Crimson Tears
by Deathwhisperer
Summary: The last Huntress is not alone. On Hiatus until Frost and Lollipop are finished.
1. Prologue - Somber Recollection

Prologue - Somber Recollection

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><p>In the solemn field of silence<p>

I can barely feel the pain

Blind and deaf to all the violence

And I've always felt this way

"Always Running" - Malukah

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><p>Snap.<p>

The arrow flew straight and true, impaling itself in the deer's heart. It cried out once, sending its brethren scattering, before collapsing on the ground, dead. A woman rose from a thicket of dead bushes. Her cloak was red like fresh blood, a stark contrast to the white snow and black wood of the forest, and the crossbow she used to slay her prey seems to emanate a deathly aura. She slung her weapon onto her back and walked calmly to the the deer carcass.

She hefted the deer onto her right shoulder, carrying it as if it weighed nothing. And with the faint glow of red aura surrounding her body, it might as well have been. She started on her journey home.

The woods were silent save for the soft breeze coursing through the dead trees. The ground exudes the smell of rotting leaves, victims of the harsh Atlasian winter. Every once in awhile she would see a squirrel darting from tree to tree, carrying an acorn between its stubby fingers. She figured she was capable of tracking them down and taking their nut stash, but she doesn't have the heart to do so. The northern deers and winter rabbits are sufficient to keep her alive, and she refuses to kill or steal from the local wildlife unless it is absolutely necessary.

She leapt from tree to tree, moving in absolute silence despite the crimson cloak she wears upon her back. She breathed in, taking in her surroundings. She was surrounded by trees, either dead or dying. The smell of rotting leaves dissipates as the refreshing scent of roses permeate the air. She summoned her aura to keep her warm. She breathed out, forming a small fog in front of her face. Aural warmth comforted her, and the tension she was feeling relieved somewhat.

It will take her about an hour or two to reach her hideout. Her hunting grounds are usually restricted in one of Atlas's numerous valleys, but food was growing scarce and she was forced to hunt further away to find what she needed. Most people would deem the mountainside inhospitable and dangerous, but she cherishes its majestic peaks and beautiful sceneries. She was born in the north after all, and had spent most of her childhood climbing winter pines and enjoying the soft touch of snow.

She paused atop a ridge and closed her eyes, letting the afternoon sun warm her face. She dropped her kill and adjusted her unruly fur clothing. A beowolf howled in the distance, and she tensed. They bring back painful memories, memories she'd rather forget. She raised a hand towards a black eyepatch covering her left eye.

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><p><em>She was escorting a little girl of eight, holding hands with her mother on the streets of Atlas. She was clutching a doll on her right hand. The streets of Atlas has been overrun by Grimm, and she was leading them through an alleyway towards to second line of defense. The center of Dust manufacturing and robot production is tightly packed, and it was difficult to navigate through the narrow Maze of Atlas's factory depots.<em>

_If this city falls, Remnant goes with it._

_"Mommy! I'm scared!" the girl whimpered, clutching her doll so hard She was worried it might break._

_"It's alright, Ava. We have a Huntress with us. She won't let anything hurt us. Right?" the mother stared at her._

_She nodded. "Of course. I promise."_

_The girl calmed down, somewhat reassured. The girl whispered something to her._

_"What was that?" she asked._

_"I want to be a Huntress." Ava smiled. "I want to be strong and pretty, just like you."_

_She smiled and patted her head._

_"You will be. I can tell."_

_The girl brightened considerably._

_They hurried between two office buildings. It was almost midnight, judging by the broken moon hovering in the sky. A massive siren roared in the distance and the streetlights died. Atlas had just lost its central power grid._

_The sounds of battle were fading away into the distance, but she didn't let her guard down. Scythe in hand, she turned a dark corner._

_An Alpha Beowolf lunged at her out of nowhere, swatting her weapon aside. The scythe impaled itself on a wall to her right. She did a backflip, narrowly avoiding its jaws. Using her semblance, she reclaimed Crescent Rose and turned to find a bloody claw swiping at her face. She stepped back a split second too late and felt claws rip into her face. She screamed, but managed to sidestep to avoid a fatal blow. She leapt upwards, blood trickling from her forehead, and spun her scythe, slicing the Alpha into two, three, four pieces. The corpse fell on the ground and began to dissipate._

_A little girl's scream shook her world._

_She turned to see her companions beset by the rest of the pack. Even with her semblance, she was not fast enough. The mother shielded her daughter with her body, raising an arm against a lunging Beowolf. It tore her arm clean and flung it across the alleyway. Blood painted the ground crimson._

_She roared in outrage and propelled herself with a burst of accelerant bullets from her scythe. She sliced one in half, severed the limbs of another and fired a point blank shot to the third. Its head exploded in a shower of black blood and flesh fibres. The body flopped to the ground, convulsed once, and was still. She spun to see a heartbreaking sight._

_They lay against a wall. The little girl was sobbing silently. Her entire body was bathed in the blood of her dying mother, who stroke her daughter lovingly. The woman turned to her, glaring with such intensity she turned away._

_"Promise.. me.. that you'll .. take.. care of.."_

_The woman didn't finish her sentence._

_She felt a hand on her leg, gripping so tight it hurt._

_"You lied." Ava hissed accusingly. She lowered her gaze, downcast. The girl was right. She promised she'd protect them, and she failed. She started hitting the Huntress feebly, beating her chest with tiny fists._

_"YOU LIED!"_

_Anger gave way to grief and the little girl slumped against her, clutching the black fabric of her combat uniform. She cried, a voice of anguish among many in that dreadful night._

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><p>She wiped away the tears in her eyes. It was seven years ago, but it felt like it happened yesterday. In the glare of her memories, the sun wasn't bright anymore. The forest was desolate and the snow was cold.<p>

She hoisted the deer on her shoulders once more, continuing on her journey. The sun was setting, coloring the horizon a fair shade of orange and yellow. By the time she arrived by her cliffside home, faint rays of lunar light were penetrating the forest canopy, bathing the world in its soft radiance.

Remnant's broken moon rose from the horizon. Broken in pieces, revolving around the vestiges of what was left behind. Just like her heart.

This was her life now, self-imposed exile in the north. Out of everything she's learned these past years, one thing stood out in particular.

Ruby Rose was alone.

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><p>AN: I'm working on the next few chapters and I'll try to update weekly. Reviews are appreciated!


	2. Haunting Melodies

**Haunting Melodies**

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><p>Where are we going?<p>

From here.. where do we go?

Are we all blinded by fear?

How do we know?

"Where are we going?", Malukah.

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><p>Optional music - Lost My Pieces, Toradora OST.<p>

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><p>She remembered flying away, as far north as she can, until she ran out of fuel and crash landed in one of Atlas's myriad of valleys. She lived in a small crevice for months, hunting when she could no longer tolerate the pangs of her hunger and spending days on end curled up against the silent mountain walls. A pathetic, wretched wreck, reliving nightmares day and night until she broke down and hunted Grimm relentlessly for weeks. The slaughter ended only when she had nothing left in her and collapsed in a snow bank, sobbing silently to her mother, hoping to die.<p>

She had come a long way since then. Dying would have been the easy way out. A single flick from Crescent Rose is all it takes for her painful reality to fade to blissful oblivion, but it's not what her companions would have wanted. It's not what she wanted. Ruby Rose is by no means weak willed, and though recovery was lengthy and tedious she finally rediscovered her will to live.

She passed by the husk of a small airship jutting out of a small crater in the ground. She caressed the rusty metal of Vermillion Spark, the aircraft that brought her here.

A few more steps and Ruby stood before the cliffside cavern that is her home.

The entrance was but a narrow slit in the wall of granite, barely half a meter long. It would be indistinguishable from the numerous similar features of the mountainous landscape except for anyone who knew where to look. She walked inside; several steps inside led her to a wooden door.

Unlocking it, she stepped inside. The unforgiving cold of the northern climate gave way to cozy warmth, and she inhaled deeply, taking in the scent of home.

_Home._

She had discovered the hideout a year into her wanderings. It took her a few months to furnish the cavern into something resembling a home, and the six years she's lived afterwards served only to improve its conditions.

The granite floors were covered by soft deer skin, but the walls are laid bare. Crescent Rose wasn't exactly a carpentry tool, so whatever "furniture" Ruby had managed to create was rough-shod and tilted at odd angles. It doesn't bother her, however; as long as it serves its purpose, it stays.

She pressed the switches on her bedside for the dust-powered lanterns she had placed around the cavern. They lit up one by one, illuminating her humble abode.

The room was divided into three parts. The first is her workroom, where she carves wood, maintains Crescent Rose and cook, though she wasn't very good at that last bit. The second section is her living area. Books lay scattered everywhere and unfinished carpentry projects litter the floor. If she were to roam deeper inside she would find her supplies chamber - enough dust, ammunition and meals-ready-to-eat to last a decade.

For now, she was content to lay her scythe by her table and pull up her tree stump chair. She sat on it and began writing on her old Scroll. Dust knows how the old thing still manages to stay alive for over nine years, but it was welcome nonetheless.

"_Day 3382. Clean hunt six kilometers away in the next valley. Got a deer. Food is getting scarce. Spotted a pack of Beowolves to the northeast heading south. It's kind of early for them to be going south but winter's been getting colder every year. Makes sense. Weather is getting colder. Might be a good idea to get some new fur rugs, a couple are getting rotten."_

She hesitated before adding another line to her entry.

"_Considering travelling south."_

She let it linger for a few moments before she erased it with a shake of her head.

Enough daydreaming.

Ruby took a book from the floor, one of many strewn across the room. She sat on her bed and pulled up her badly sewn fur blanket to her neck. Accompanied by the lonely whispers of the wind outside, she read the Ninjas of Love for the thousandth time.

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><p><em>She awoke to a dark room. That's weird. She was sure she left the light on before dozing off. Shrugging of her covers, she stretched an arm to press on the light switches. She touched something stiff and cold. Glancing to the right, she met into the empty gaze of a dead cat faunus clad in black.<em>

_Why did you leave me? the apparition mouthed._

_Ruby shrieked and leapt from her bed to feel an icy presence behind her. She whirled around to see her partner, blood gushing from the scar on her forehead._

_I did my part. I became the best teammate you could ask for. Why did you fail me?_

_Ruby scrambled away, dropping on the cold stone floor in a heap of fur and tears. She got to her feet, pushed the door open and dashed out of the cavern. She ran as far as her legs could carry her, past the deafening blizzard and into the merciless forest of the Atlasian north. The black, dead pines towered above her, blocking the light of the moon like silent sentinels. She collapsed on a snowbank, sobbing, tossing and turning until she bumped into her Yang buried deep in the snow._

"_Y-Yang?" Ruby said, not believing her eyes. Her sister seemed asleep, the familiar blonde mane radiating warmth._

"_Rubes?" Yang said, opening her eyes, luminescent lavenders among a mountain of white. Ruby wanted to cry in relief. _

"_Can ya help me out here? I'm kind of stuck."_

_The blonde extended a hand._

_A choked laughter was all she could manage. She pulled her sister out of the snow bank and they collapsed on the ground. Ruby wrapped her arms around her sister in a desperate hug before realizing there's nothing to hug._

_From waist down, her sister was a mutilated mess of blood and guts._

"_Where you been, lil sis?" Yang said, a hint of malice in her voice. "I've been lonely."_

_Ruby clambered away in horror. The elder Huntress frowned._

"_Oh, this?" Yang looked down on her disfigured body._

"_Guess I'm half the woman I used to be, eh?" her sister quipped._

_The blonde's eyes shifted to malevolent red and hands shot out to squeeze her neck._

* * *

><p>Ruby woke with a gasp.<p>

Back in the safety of the cavern, she wept bitterly. Tears wet the crumpled pages of the book in her hand.

The panic attacks were less frequent now, but just as strong as they were since she arrived seven years ago. It got so bad she'd stay awake for as long as possible, going so far as to bashing her head against the walls to stay awake. She'd build a fire and burn her fingers over and over. She'd go out in the middle of a snowstorm in her underclothes.

Yet everything she tried was in vain. Her ghosts would always catch up to her, shadowing her days and haunting her nights. After a while she gave up, giving in to her nightmares.

She closed her eyes and forced a shuddering breath, trying to calm down. Inhale, hold. Exhale. Her quivering slowly faded, and she returned to reality.

Sick of wallowing in misery, she lifted herself off her bed and stretched. Grabbing Crescent Rose, spare ammunition and her trademark red cloak, Ruby opened the door. The blizzard had died out and the morning sun blazed brightly, gracing the treetops with golden crowns. Beowolves howl in the distance, closer than they had been yesterday.

Good. Her scythe whirred to life and she sprinted down the cliffside slopes.

Killing Grimm has always made her feel better.

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><p>AN: I had free time this weekend and decided to publish the first chapter early. Reviews make my day! Thanks for the support.

-Deathwhisperer.


	3. Masked Facade

**Masked Facade**

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><p>"That's the thing about pain. It demands to be felt.<p>

John Green.

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><p><strong>Option Music - Creep, Daniela Andrade.<strong>

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><p>The monochromic landscape was a welcome constant, an oasis of beautiful simplicity in the chaotic desert of her mind.<p>

There's something about the forest of black pines and fields of white snow that calms her down. But the snow has been marred and the air exudes a foul smell - the pack was here. Ruby took a knee and flicked the patches of blackened snow her prey had left behind in their wake. The knowledge that her mortal enemies were close heightened her senses, and Ruby continued her pursuit at twice the pace, eager to feel the monsters' flesh part before her scythe.

A small twinge in the back of her mind reminded her this wasn't the reason she became a Huntress in the first place. She grew up listening to her sister's recounting of fairy tales and folklore of villains and princesses, of kings and demons, of Huntsmen and Grimm. She grew to love them, and wished she could be a hero in a story that other little girls would listen to long after she died. She enrolled at a Huntsmen academy at the earliest opportunity, following her sister's footsteps.

Her first years at Signal was horrible. She wasn't strong like her sister, she can't point a gun or a rifle, and her mastery of dust was pitiful. Despite her classmates' mockery of her abilities and numerous discouraging remarks she persevered. One day, her uncle Qrow stepped in her classroom and gestured for her to leave with him right in the middle of a lecture. He introduced her to the way of the Scythe - a weapon of speed and momentum. Ruby took to the Scythe like no other - in a matter of months she had surpassed her entire class in both skill and aptitude. Everything changed for her. She became more or less popular, despite her awkward social skills, and gained the respect and admiration of her fellow Huntsmen-in-training and teachers. It would be thanks to Qrow's tutelage that she caught the eye of the Headmaster of Beacon, and her subsequent admission to the most prestigious school for Huntsmen in Remnant. One step closer to becoming the heroine she wanted to be since she could remember.

But now, heroism is the furthest thing from her mind.

Fairy tale heroes get their happy ending. Real life ones die horrible deaths.

So here she was, ten years after she stepped into the hallways of Beacon for the first time, hunting Grimm in the mountainous valleys of Atlas. What would her youthful self say if she saw the woman she ended up becoming? Angry rebukes? Tearful reassurances?

_What are you doing? _she imagined her say. _What happened to your dream? Your promise?_

_They died, along with everyone else_, she thought rancorously.

Trudging on top of a hill, Ruby gazed into the next valley. The tracks on the slopes before her were fresh, and the howling is getting louder by the second.

She folded her cloak inside out to a small bundle of red on her shoulders. She had long since learned that her crimson accoutrement encumbers her movement in battle, as well as allowing Grimm to spot her from kilometers away, yet regardless of its burden, she cared for it too much to discard it. It was the only thing her mother left - there were some nights that her mother's lingering scent and the soft touch of silk were the only things that stopped her from ending her life.

Crescent Rose in hand, Ruby crouched, eyeing the specks of black in the distance. She disappeared into a swirl of wind and roses, sprinting down the slope with inhuman speed. She leapt upwards on a tree branch and without losing momentum, pushed off into the next pine, and the next, and the next, and by the time one of the Grimm stood on its forelegs, sniffing a suspicious fragrance in the air, she had landed in the middle of the pack. They growled in surprise, four scores of masked demons turning their heads to her in unison, and snarled.

_Come and get me._

Her lips formed a twisted smirk.

Her time in the wild have only served to improve her lithe physique - strong bands of muscles tensed as her fight-or-flight reflexes kicked in. The fastest of the Beowolves reached her first; she spun her scythe in a deadly arc and split two in half. Ducking to evade a lunge, Ruby backflipped, catching a surprised Beowolf with an aural-augmented tackle. She felt its ribs breaking and ended its miserable life with a swift slice to the jugular.

The rest of the pack caught up and she fired an accelerant round to the ground, sending her flying. The charging Grimm collided in a heap below her. She fired a flurry of rounds, taking out several of the dazed beasts, before landing on another scythe-first. The tip of Crescent Rose buried itself through the Beowolf's spine with a sickening crack. Three more she slew with swift decapitations. The rest of its kind howled, stampeding through the blood encrusted snow to avenge their fallen brethren.

Ruby's world devolved into claws and fangs, blades and bullets, blood and snow. It's a world she knows well, a world she has lived her entire life in. She fell into a battle trance, mowing the pack down like grass. Whenever they managed to pin her to a corner she would vanish in a shower of rose petals only to reappear behind the astonished Grimm, continuing her mechanical slaughter, devoid of all emotion except one - hate.

There was nothing in this world that she despised more than these savages, and she channeled her fury through Crescent Rose. In the height of her rampage she looked like an avatar of vengeance, a harbinger of death.

And it was only in those moments that Ruby could experience happiness - depraved and aberrant, perhaps, but happiness nonetheless.

The moon barely moved from its place in the sky when she sent the last of them into oblivion.

Ruby stood amidst the carnage of bullet casings and dissolving bodies, breathing heavily. The heat of battle left her and she collapsed to the ground in exhaustion. She stared listlessly at the broken moon.

Snow began to fall.

It started with a few drops and escalated into a full blown blizzard. The moon disappeared above the clouds.

She tried to stand up, but fatigue sent her reeling. She dropped to her knees. The snowstorm was growing, and she could barely see a few paces ahead of her. The air felt like piercing knives, stabbing her pale skin. She shivered. The dark pines looked on in indifference. She was a wilting flower in a field of white. She tried to summon her aura for warmth, but it was still depleted from her clash with the pack.

Does it matter?

She stopped her futile crawling and curled up into a ball.

The only reason she was alive was that her death isn't something her teammates would have wanted. It kept her going when everything else had fallen apart, when all she stood for had turned on her. But..

.. It was seven years ago.

Is it time to let go?

_Apparitions formed around her. Weiss, twirling Myrtenaster. Yang making snow angels. Blake scratching her ears. Ozpin drinking coffee. Qrow polishing his scythe. Pyrrha practicing battle stances. Even Nora and Ren, fooling around in the snow, but present nonetheless._ She was certain they were the products of her fading mind, trying to hold on to reality that is slipping away, but they were welcome regardless.

_I'm sorry. _Ruby mouthed._ I'm so.. I'm so sorry. I failed you. I'm not a hero. I screwed up. I-_

She felt a ghostly hand brush her cheek.

_It's alright._

She looked up to see her family and friends surrounding her, smiling. There was no judgement or resentment, only camaraderie and friendship.

_You did what you can. _Blake whispered.

_You're the best leader I could've asked for. _Weiss grinned.

_I'm so proud of you, lil sis! _Yang beamed.

A solitary tear dropped from her good eye.

_You guys.._

_But it's not your time yet, _Ozpin said. _This world is not done with you._

Her ghosts began to fade.

She reached for them in vain, trying to grab on to their ethereal forms. They waved faint farewells and whispering muted goodbyes.

They disappeared one by one.

_NO! BRING ME WITH YOU! DON'T LEAVE ME HERE! DON'T.. DON'T LEAVE ME ALONE._

A figure cloaked in white lingered longer than the others.

_Thanks for visiting me every chance you get._ Summer Rose hovered over her daughter.

She felt alien hands lifting her up from the snow. Turning her head weakly, she saw a stranger

"Hang in there!" he said. "I've got you."

Whatever he said next was lost on her as she used the last iota of her strength to raise her hand, extending it weakly towards her mother.

_Don't cry, Ruby. We'll always be with you._

She mother vanished with a gust of snow, taking Ruby's heart with her.

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><p>AN: It may feel like too much angst but to me this is what Ruby would be like if she were to lose everything. But don't worry! We're about to get down to business. Feel free to review! They make my day and helps me churn out more chapters. Don't expect the updates to keep up at this rate, though. Have a good day!

- Deathwhisperer.


	4. Reminiscent Warmth

**Reminiscent Warmth**

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><p>"<em>We look before and after,<em>

_And pine for what is not._

_Our sincerest laughter_

_With some pain is fraught_

_Our sweetest songs are those _

_That tell the saddest thought."_

- Percy Bysshe Shelley.

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><p>Optional Song - I'll Follow You Into the Dark, by Death Cab for Cutie.<p>

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><p>"What in Remnant were you thinking?!"<p>

"I can't leave her like that!"

"You bloody well should have! What are we going to tell Roy when we get back?!"

"I - I don't know."

"See, that's your problem Travis. You don't know. You don't think. You do."

"What would YOU have done?"

"Isn't it obvious? Leave her!"

"But she'd die!"

"She just took out eighty, ninety Beowolves, solo! I think she can bloody well take care of herself!"

Ruby woke up feeling warmer and colder than she had ever been. Cracking an eyelid open, she could see two men bickering over a dying campfire. The moon was hovering over the horizon, and the blizzard has abated to a gentle drizzle of snowflakes.

"Can't you see she was out of aura?"

"Couldn't care less."

"And that's your problem Malcolm! You don't give a shit about anything!"

"And you give too much!"

Their argument has escalated into full on shouting and it was hurting her head. Scratch that. Her entire body hurts. It felt as if she had been pounded by an Ursa over and over again, but at least she was alive. She analyzed her surroundings. There was a burly man and a young man beside him, talking brashly. She spotted Crescent Rose lying on the ground next to them, uncomfortably close to the fire itself.

Night has fallen, and with it the temperature. Ruby sneezed - the snow trapped within the folds of her clothing had melted and her campfire companions noticed. It was then did she realized that they were faunus - one of them sported a pair of antlers and the other a leopard's tail.

"Oh look, sleeping beauty's awake." the deer faunus jeered. "Go kiss your Prince Charming."

He stood up, stretching his massive shoulders.

"Hey, where are you going?" the other asked.

"Outta here. Getting some wood. Fire's dying. Besides, she's your problem."

Footsteps plowed away from the camp and the leopard faunus sighed in exasperation.

"Hey, you okay?" he asked. Her vision improved slowly, and she could her knight in shining armor clearly - a young faunus, well built in his mid-twenties. He wore a thick parka with camouflage patterns of grey and white, and his tail flicked around, playing with the snow. He was poking the campfire with a stick, trying to revive the coals.

She tried to move her stiff limbs but realized they were bound by ropes.

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><p>Seeing the girl struggle, Travis stopped toying with the fire.<p>

"Sorry about that." he moved to her side and started unbinding the ropes. "I'm Travis. That ass out there is Malcolm and-"

The girl wasn't there any more.

Swearing in surprise, he leapt back. She was a dozen paces away and holding her weapon - how did she get there so fast? And the air.. he swore he could smell the aroma of roses. A flying petal pelted him in the nose and he waved it away. The entire camp was surrounded by roses.

"Calm down!" Travis said, arms outstretched in an appeasing manner. "We're not gonna hurt you."

"Then why did you tie me up?" the girl croaked. Speech felt alien to Ruby; seven years of isolation had stifled her ability to speak considerably.

"Malcolm insisted. Look; we just found you in the blizzard. Well, I did. You looked like you needed help, so I brought you here."

"Where is.. here?"

"Home. For tonight, that is. We're heading further south to join the others."

"What were you doing here?" she asked suspiciously. "There's nothing here."

The leopard faunus shook his head. "Yeah, there's nothing alright. Just a bunch of dead wood and arctic animals but Roy thought - hey can you lower that thing? You're scaring the shit out of me."

There was a pregnant pause.

"Cookies."

"What?"

"You heard me. Do you have any cookies?"

She heard the sound of footsteps and glanced to see the beefy deer faunus returning to camp.

"Hey Trav, can't find any decent wood - what the hell is going on?"

Ruby pointed the barrel at the faunus, alternating every few seconds.

"Cookies." she repeated.

"Hey Malc."

"What."

"You got any cookies left?"

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><p>Travis sat silently, watching the girl devour a jumbo pack of cookies Malcolm had been snacking on the entire trip. Its owner sulked with his back turned against the girl and the campfire. She chewed on silently, crumbs dropping to the lap of her fur clothing. She had her cloak wrapped around her, staring blankly into the fire. Her black eyepatch adds to the list of intimidating mysterious surrounding her.<p>

"What's your name?"

She continued to munch on her cookies.

A little flustered at being ignored, Travis repeated once more. "What's your-"

"I heard you the first time." she cut him off. Then; "Ruby."

Gears whirred in his head. Seeing how she handled the giant pack of beowolves they'd been struggling to avoid in their journey, she's definitely a Huntress. But aside from a few retirees too old to lift a weapon, everyone knows Huntsmen are pretty much extinct. Not a single academy had survived the Black Tide, and the rest were slain at the Cataclysm. If any were left, they're hidden pretty well.

So what's a lone Huntress doing out here in the middle of nowhere?

"Why are you here, Ruby?" he asked tentatively, trying to be considerate.

"Living."

"That's not a very good answer."

"That's what you're getting." She turned her back to him with a near imperceptible movement - just noticeable enough for him to realize she had taken offense at his reply.

Okay. That didn't go as well as he'd hoped.

"Where are you from?" she asked.

Surprised that she had taken the initiative, Travis answered haltingly.

"Atlas."

"Atlas is gone. I was there."

"The city, perhaps. But not the people."

She took the last of the cookies and broke it in half. She handed one half to Travis. He took it gingerly. He brushed her skin and shivered; it was icy cold.

"Thanks."

"What, none for me?" Malcolm interjected.

"You had me tied up."

"It was a precaution! And a good one, seeing you nearly blew our heads off!"

"Yeah. Well, thanks for the cookies." Ruby got up to leave. "There's a well hidden shortcut to the southeast. It's hard going but it should get you to where you want to be faster."

"Good riddance." Malcolm murmured. If she'd heard him, she showed no signs of it.

Just as she was about to fade into the night, Travis stood up and shouted.

"Come with us!"

His outburst surprised him just as much as it did Malcolm and Ruby, who glanced back with a raised eyebrow, but he decided to go with it. "We could use your help."

"You've lived this long without me, I'm sure you'll be just fine." she replied.

"Listen to her!" Malcolm said. "Saving a damsel in distress is one thing, but bringing a human to the Sanctuary? Roy's gonna flip out!"

"Not just any human; a Huntress."

"I'm not a Huntress." Ruby interposed.

"And I'm not a drop-dead sexy hunk of Faunus booty." Malcolm snickered. "I'm not very bright, lady, but I'd have to be downright retarded to not recognize a Huntress when I see one."

"I'm not a Huntress." she insisted.

"Alright, you're not." Travis conceded. "But it doesn't change the fact you're a skilled fighter. We could really use someone of your caliber."

"Use?"

"My bad, it wasn't what I-"

"It doesn't matter." she said. She seems to be considering his request.

"She ain't comin', get over it." Malcolm said, lying on his back nonchalantly.

"We've got cookies." Travis joked.

He didn't actually think it would persuade the girl, but he swore he saw her resolve wavering at that statement

"Hang on. You're_ not serious." _Malcolm said.

"I'll go." she decided. "On one condition."

"Look, lady, Travis might be in charge but I'm-"

He stopped when he noticed a gigantic scythe leveled at his throat. Ruby raised an index finger in front of her lips. The message was clear.

_Shush._

"Name it."

"I get a piggyback ride." she smirked devilishly. "From this _sexy hunk_ over here."

Both faunus stood still, dumbstruck.

"Do it, Malcolm." Travis broke the silence.

"Over my dead body." Malcolm whispered with gritted teeth.

"I may just take you to that offer." Ruby replied, removing part of the deer faunus's beard with a skillful jerk of her scythe.. "Alright! Alright! Crazy bitch." Malcolm jerked back with an oath, and walked away spitting a colorful spectrum of swear words. He grabbed a sleeping bag "You're gonna pay for this, Travis!"

Awkward silence reigned for a few moments.

"I guess that's settled." Travis concluded. "We still have a few more hours before daybreak, so I suggest we hit the sack."

Ruby started walking away.

"Hey, hey! Where are you going?"

"I don't like sleeping on the ground." she said without turning around. She stood in front of a pine tree and stretched her arms.

"We could share a sleeping bag." Travis suggested. It may be his imagination, but he thought he saw the faintest hint of a smile on the girl's face.

"Not interested."

She used a burst of aura to leap up the branch of a pine tree. She climbed higher and higher until she settled for a strong branch. Tying her cloak around the branches, she made a makeshift hammock.

Travis gave up and fell on his back.

What a woman.

_What did he just get himself into?_

* * *

><p>AN: So no, the stranger was not Jaune. What do you think? I have a ridiculous amount of free time today and thought, write some more? Why the hell not? I promise I'll never let sacrifice quality for quantity. Please tell me if there are any grammatical errors or if you have any suggestions to improve the story. And of course, review! They keep me on my feet.

Otherwise, have a good day.

-Deathwhisperer.


	5. Winter's Summer

**Winter's Summer**

* * *

><p>"Everyone is entitled to their sorrow, for the heart has no metrics or form of measure. And all of it.. irreplaceable."<p>

* * *

><p>"HEY, HEY! WATCH THE ANTLEAAAAARGH!"<p>

"Give it a break will you? Your whining is really annoying."

"LOOK WHO'S WHINIAAAAAAAAAGH! STOP THAT!"

"Then shush."

Malcolm grumbled, mumbling several choice swear words, before shrugging violently, earning a yelp from the woman on his shoulders. She retaliated by pulling his antlers again.

The ensuing scream echoed around the entire valley.

The three of them had passed the freezing mountain ranges of Atlas and into the warmer hillsides of the south. Dead pines gave way to green grass and foliage, the snow dwindled to mere specks of white here and there and the skies are clear of clouds and storms. A vast improvement from their first encounter three days ago - a monstrous snowstorm that nearly killed their red cloaked companion. Despite her flitting brush with death, Ruby seemed unperturbed. In fact, it almost feels like she doesn't..

.. care.

The Huntress was an enigma to him. She would be cheerful at times, talking about various culinary delights she missed in her years in the wilderness, tugging on Malcolm's antlers and playing in the snow. But other times she would be silent, silver eyes unfocused, caressing her weapon menacingly. Her melancholy is more apparent at night, before the campfire. All of his jokes and questions were rebuffed coldly. She even went so far as to shoot the campfire to end his futile attempts at starting a conversation.

And whenever they saw Grimm.. well..

"Ey, Princess, look up." Malcolm said.

Travis and Ruby glanced up to see a Nevermore circling above. Ruby jumped off of Malcolm's back with a kick, earning an _oomph _from the deer faunus, and unlocked that ridiculously huge scythe of hers. Impaling the tip on the ground to dampen the recoil, she aimed at the massive bird.

_Blang! Blang!_

With each shot she was pushed back a few paces. The rounds remained airborne for a second before striking the Grimm. It squawked as its left wings were torn apart and started on a chaotic spiral. Its descent ends with a bone crunching crash at the next valley. Ruby hummed a tune and started walking towards her dying prey.

"What a woman, eh?" Malcolm whistled. "As crazy as the Grimm she kills, but scarier."

"I wonder what's behind that eyepatch of hers."

"A hole, I'd reckon." Malcolm sniggered. He stretched to his full height, arms extended, and Travis heard bones popping. "I'm just glad she's off my back. Speaking of which.."

The deer faunus lifted Travis by the scruff of his shirt.

"You owe me one. Big time."

"Agh, I said I'm sorry already! Put me down!"

"We're stopping by Bron's. Full castle ice combo. On your tab?"

"Are you out of your mind?! I'm gonna be broke for the rest of the year!"

"Not as broke as my back, you're not."

They hear an agitated screech followed by another gunshot. By the time the echoing faded, Ruby had climbed back deftly upon her throne on Malcolm's head.

"For the love of Dust, at least stop holding it so damneAAAAAAGH!"

"You're a big boy, I'm sure you can handle it." Ruby mocked.

* * *

><p>"We're almost at the Sanctuary. We should get there by sundown."<p>

An acknowledging grunt was all he received from the brunette. Travis sighed.

They lay around the campfire. Night has fallen and Malcolm was already fast asleep, snoring louder than a Boarbatusk. Travis was writing in the recon log and Ruby was polishing her scythe with a manic grin that he was sure would give him nightmares later on.

"First thing's first. There's not a lot of humans in Sanctuary. We're mostly faunus workers who worked in the mines for dust companies, SDC in particular."

No response.

"You won't get a warm welcome if that's what you're expecting. We turn away most humans excepting the ones with skills we need, like smithing and maintenance. We live exclusively underground, but sometimes we go to the surface to tend to the summer crops and hunt."

"What were you doing up north?" she suddenly asked.

"I'm surprised it took you this long to ask."

"Just answer."

"Scavenging. Rumors were that there were science outposts up north where they record the weather and such. We did find a couple but they've been cleared up and abandoned. There's nothing left up there."

"Why would they send two people just for a rumor?"

"We're desperate. This year's harvest is the worst in the last decade and with the constant stream of people coming in, we need to find a new way to survive. Roy deemed the possibility of finding a winter stash's worth of supplies worth the risk of going to Grimm infested territory. Oh, Roy's the leader of Sanctuary. Everyone looks up to him. He's a cunning bastard and a scary enemy, but he's got a good heart."

"You talk about him like you know him."

"He's my brother."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

Pause.

"Even if you found a stash, how are you going to carry it back?"

Travis chuckled.

"You rode him all day."

Ruby looked on in surprise.

"He can complain his butt off, but Malcolm's a genuinely strong guy. Back in Sanctuary he could lift a scout ship bare handed."

Ruby whistled.

"He doesn't sound like it, but he's a got a heart as big as his antlers and an appetite to match. I was surprised he let you have his cookies at all."

"He had a giant scythe pointed at his face."

"He could've lied about it. People don't typically bring cookies to recovery missions."

".. True. Not a very pretty mouth though."

"There's that." Travis agreed. "But swearing aside, he's a genuinely good guy."

"I know." Ruby said.

"You do?" Travis frowned.

Ruby nodded.

"So why do you tease him so much?"

"Cause it's fun. I picked it up from my sister?"

"Is she.. still around?"

Pause.

"No."

"Sorry."

"It wasn't your fault."

Pause.

The wood was burning out, but neither of them moved to replenish it. An owl hooted.

"Hey, there's a rip on your cloak." Travis pointed out.

"Huh? Where?"

He placed his finger on it. Ruby raised the damaged part of the fabric and inspected it.

"We have cloth makers back in Sanctuary, but you'd probably have to wait for a while before-"

"Don't need it." Ruby said without lifting her gaze from her torn cloak. She opened a small satchel on her waist belt and took out a red roll of thread. She drew out a small needle and started weaving the thread to her cloak.

Travis watched on impassively.

"You can sew."

It wasn't a question.

"It's been ripped so many times it's kind of a routine by now." she murmured, eyebrows furrowed in concentration.

Now that she's mentioned it, Travis can see multiple scars and sewn rips on the fabric.

"We can have it replaced if you want."

"It's my mother's."

"Oh."

Her silver eyes glinted in the waning glow of the fire. He continued writing his report. By the time Travis finished writing finished, the rip was halfway fixed.

"Roy and I lost our parents, too." he started.

"Who said mine were dead?"

"I could guess. Am I right?"

Pause.

Ruby stopped sewing. A cloud hid the moon's radiance. The owl stopped hooting.

"Well, it's late. I'm sure you can finish that another time. We should-"

"It happened west of here." Ruby muttered. "I was born and raised in Atlas, before moving to Vale."

Travis remained silent, intrigued by the sudden influx of information from the usually distant Huntress.

"I loved the snow. I climbed the pine trees and wandered the forests. It would drive my mother crazy but I enjoyed every second of it. Back then the Grimm were just scary bedtime stories that keep me awake at night. I even had an ursa bear for a doll."

"One day I was looking for a flower to give my dad when he came back from his travels in Vytal. It was Edelweiss. They only grow on the the mountains, though so I had to travel further than I ever had. I found one, but I realized I didn't know where I was. Soon enough, I was completely lost. It was getting dark and I was scared. I remember crying in a small hollow, shivering when day turned to night. My teeth chattered, my arms felt frozen and my legs were stiff. When I thought things couldn't get any worse, I hear a Beowolf's hunting howl."

"They were on to me in minutes. I was quick on my feet; I had to be for all the exploring I did, but not even close to being fast enough to outrun Grimm. Snow started falling. I yelled for help, knowing it doesn't matter to the Grimm. They could smell my fear, smell my terror, and they were baying for my blood."

"I stumbled. Sounds familiar, doesn't it? A lot of people die that way. They panic too much and glanced back one too many times, and they tripped. I was one of those idiots. I fell and twisted my ankle. By then the snowstorm had turned to a full scale blizzard and the Grimm surrounded me everywhere, red eyes gleaming in the shadows. One of them lunged to tear me apart and then.."

"My mother was there. By Dust, was she mad at me. She had her halberd nailed to the ground, glowing red. But in that one moment, I didn't care. She could ground me for the rest of my life, I was just so happy. I cried in relief. I was saved. "

"I didn't pay attention how she got there so fast. She was nearly spent all her aura running throughout the forest, and by the time she found me she could barely stand on her feet."

"It didn't matter, though. She fought long and hard, halberd swinging, limbs flying. There must have been dozens of them, horrid things. She kept me behind her throughout the fight."

"But even she had her limits. By the time she got to the last few wolves, she was on her knees, clutching her halberd, breathing heavily. The cold took what little strength she had left and she collapsed. I was never so scared in my life, not for mine, but hers. I tugged at her, trying to get her up before the Beowolves get us.

"She grabbed me and used up the last of her semblance to get us away from them. She unfastened her cloak and told me to hold it close. She said how happy I made her, how proud she was of me and started crying. I cried with her. She let me go. I thought we were going to die."

"By the time I realized what she was doing, she was too far for me to reach for her. She drew the wolves away from me. I was too weak to do anything. My father and sister found me with a search party the next day. My sister said I had tears frozen to my cheeks and I nearly died if not for the cloak my mother left me.

"They found her at the bottom of a nearby cliff, along with the few remaining Grimm. Dust knows how, but she lured them to jumping to their deaths with her."

The fire crackled. He could see emotions welling up from within her, a soft red glow radiating from her figure.

"Her name was Summer. Summer Rose."

The last of the light dwindled and plunged them both in darkness.

* * *

><p>"I don't know what to say." Travis<p>

Silence.

"Then don't."

The moon reappeared from the cloud layer, producing just enough light for Travis to see the outline of Ruby's face, and he thought he had never seen anyone so beautiful. The black cloth covering her eye didn't detract from her allure, it served only to amplify it. She was like a glass statue, exquisite and fragile, but it belies the inner strength and will she possesed. Yet one could only take so much before cracking. Her scars, both physical and emotional were barred for him to see.

And at that moment, he promised he'd never let anything happen to her. Even if it costs him his life.

* * *

><p>"Thank you."<p>

"What?"

"Thank you, Travis. For saving me back there."

"It's.. nothing."

"It's always something."

"It's what anybody would've done."

"Not Malcolm, apparently."

They both laughed.

"You're a pretty good storyteller."

"My sister used to read to me."

"She's a good sister."

"She was."

Pause.

"We should sleep."

"Sure."

Ruby brushed snow off her body and wrapped her cloak around her. She started climbing the nearest tree, a sight Travis has gotten used to in the last few days.

"I'm glad I saved you, Ruby."

"Me, too."

Pause.

"Good night."

"Good night."

* * *

><p>AN: If Ruby seems out of character, that's because she's changed. It's been a whole decade since she attended Beacon. She's not the bubbly, positive bundle of joy she once was. But pieces of her old personality still shows through the cookies and the piggyback ride.

Review guys! They keep me up!

-Deathwhisperer.


	6. Dark Reflections

**Dark Reflections**

* * *

><p><em>The only people who fear death are those with regrets. - Anon.<em>

* * *

><p>Optional Music - Liar Mask [Piano Cover] by Tehishter<p>

* * *

><p>The sky was particularly cloudy tonight.<p>

By Travis's calculations, they should arrive at one of the entryways for the Sanctuary by nightfall tomorrow. He told her what she needed to know about the underground city. Faunus are still resentful to humans, so unless a human have a vital skill they need, they are not welcome. Even then, those who stay still face discrimination and mockery. Some guy called Wyvern was opposed to humans in the Sanctuary entirely. He would certainly try to stop her from entering, but with Roy backing her there's nothing he could do about it.

That said.. she doesn't understand the leopard faunus's eagerness for her to come with him.

It reminded her of a conversation they had earlier that night.

"_What could I do that you want me there so badly?" she asked. The two of them were lying by the campfire, trying to ignore Malcolm's snoring, a routine they shared over the past week of travel. How Travis endured the sound night after night is beyond her. _

"_You're a Huntress." Travis replied instantly._

"_Not anymore."_

"_You could help teach us how to fight like you."_

"_You have enough warriors who can do that. Stop lying. Tell me why."_

_Silence._

"_I could ask you why you decided to come with us."_

"_The cookies, of course."_

"_Now who's lying?"_

_He smiled. She didn't push any further. She stood up, brushed off the snow and headed for the nearest pine to sleep._

Now that she's comfortably ensconced in her makeshift hammock, she pondered his question.

Why did she come?

She never cared for the better part of a decade and evidently they don't like her either (Travis is an exception - maybe even Malcolm, if she stopped spiking his water canteen with sour berries). Sure, she missed company and the occasional cookie, but that's not enough of a reason to leave the home she's built for herself for years.

She tossed and turned. She could feel something weigh her down, something compelling her to come south. Closing her eyes, she found what it is.

It's guilt.

She had abandoned the people she swore to protect in their darkest hour. There's no other way to put it - no euphemism is can describe She never regretted ditching the assholes who make up the so called Council of Remnant. In fact, she relished the feeling when she heard the news that their airship were shot down on their way to Atlas. Unlike her teammates, Ruby assumes good in everyone she meets, and is more than willing to give people a second chance. But what they did was unforgivable, even for her.

But even then there were people who needed her, people who deserved her protection. Had she stayed she could have saved thousands of lives. There was no boasting in the thought. She was one of the last Huntsmen who survived the Cataclysm. Atlas wouldn't spare a single combat to help anyone outside their kingdom and whatever forces are left in Vytal are in shambles.

She ran. It was the cold, hard truth.

It would be best if they hated her. The faunus. She hoped they would. Because if they're anything like her companions, she could run away like she always did. She could come back to her cozy little home in the mountains, hunt by day and cry by night. She could let her memories fade, live alone, fight alone…

Die alone.

Yet now, seeing the sleeping forms of the leopard faunus who had saved her miserable life below, her desire to run faded. He believed that she could help, and more than the debt she owed him, it was the debt she owed humanity. She had to redeem herself, and he had given her the opportunity to do so. It's not a chance she'd miss.

Ruby Rose is done with running away.

* * *

><p>She awoke with a start.<p>

Through her years as a Huntress she had honed an instinctive sense of Grimm - their beastly smell and how the air becomes colder and drier, as if they were absorbing the life wherever they trod. She felt something akin to that instinct this moment - but it wasn't Grimm.

Glancing down, she realized her companions weren't there.

The camp was a mess. The campfire was dead, pieces of ash and coal scattered everywhere like black spots marring the snow. Their sleeping bags were torn apart, and their supplies ransacked.

Ruby untied her hammock and grabbed Crescent Rose. Standing on a sturdy branch, she scanned the area.

They were far enough south that the trees were green and patches of grass rose above the shallow snow. There were footsteps everywhere - no, paw prints. Faunus?

She jumped fifteen meters to the ground, crashing to a snow bank. Her aura flared, protecting her from the brunt of the damage. Crescent Rose deployed silently, and Ruby surveyed the remains of their campsite. Now that she looked closely, there were darts strewn across the campsite.

She picked on up and inspected it. It was an old casing, something people would use to subdue Grimm years ago. They pack a punch - she's seen professor Port use one on a Boarbatusk and it collapsed within seconds, unconscious. Whoever the intruders were, they wanted to keep things silent.

They didn't notice her sleeping above the trees.

The snow was full of paw marks and footsteps. She'd guess that they came in from the thicket of trees north of the camp and caught Travis and Malcolm off guard. They seem to be capable warriors, but the darts slowed them down enough that they could be subdued. That means they're not dead, and their captors wanted something from them. No, scratch that, Ruby thought. She'd been in enough hostage situations with Roman and Cinder to know that it's never about the hostage - it's about the people close to them.

Roy. They got Travis to get to Roy.

Travis would want her to get away, escape to the mountains and away from the hostilities. But she'd never been one to follow the rules anyway.

She mentally kicked herself for becoming so complacent she didn't notice the small skirmish that took place below. Blake would be ashamed of her detection skills. But no matter.

Crescent Rose collapsed to case size and she tucked it behind her. Cloak whirling in the wind, she leapt to the trees and followed the paw prints on the ground. Leaping from branch to branch, she used controlled bursts of her semblance to catch up to her prey. She grinned in the thrill of the chase, something she had not experienced for years. Whoever they are, it's not their lucky day.

She was a Huntress.

And they are her prey.

* * *

><p>"Wake up, cupcake."<p>

Travis woke up with his face slamming to the ground. He groaned in pain.

"There you go. Alive and well."

"Excellent. Go to the next room, someone's got your money."

"Always a pleasure, Wyvern."

Footsteps led away from him. The shadow of a person appeared above.

His eyesight was impaired, blurred and unfocused.

"A little dizzy, Travis? I apologize. The sedative we used was quite powerful, but you're a faunus. We always pull through." The man smiled maliciously.

"Wyvern?" he said. His voice was coarse and hoarse, his throat felt drier than the Vacuon desert.

"Always quick, aren't you? Yes, it's Wyvern. Overseer Wyvern to you."

"Overseer? My brother's overseer, you feathered prick."

Wyvern punched him in the stomach so hard he doubled down, wheezing. He continued as if nothing had happened.

"Ah, yes. Unfortunately, our illustrious leader is taking a vacation. Bad weather all around, but we sorely miss him."

Travis laughed. "He got away didn't he? You really are in incompetent piece of-"

Another sucker punch had him puking blood on the stone floor.

"Watch it, cupcake. We'll find him soon enough..

The door to his cell slammed shut, leaving him alone in the dark.

* * *

><p>Ruby hid within the thick of trees, watching the entryway to the Sanctuary.<p>

It was bustling with faunus. They were everywhere, carrying chopped wood, ore, quarries and mining equipment. The entrance is located within a deep valley. She could see the vestiges of a forested ravine, but it seemed that the faunus had cleared the valley of any greenery in a two kilometer radius. The quarry was filled with crates of dust, ammunition and small barricades. Dozens of faunus stood guard along the perimeter.

Getting in won't be easy.

She had spent the better part of the day slipping past faunus patrols, travelling through the shadows and leaping through treetops to avoid detection. Considering that Travis mentioned that the faunus usually wouldn't risk leaving the safety of the Sanctuary, she can assume something is wrong in the city for so many of them to be out here.

Seeing how they carried themselves. Ruby understood how the faunus managed to survive for such a long time. They were armed to the teeth with top notch Atlasian weaponry. The small army before her are equipped to go toe to toe with thousands of Grimm.

But the enemy, it seems, wasn't the black and white monsters this time.

She observed the guards' movements for an hour, unmoving in the trees. Infiltration was Blake's specialty, and the cat faunus had taught her much of her skill set. She established the patrol rotations, armaments and

They were using Reaper rifles, advanced versions of the Atlasian Guards' standard weaponry. Where they found such high grade weapons were beyond her. They are problematic - they are equipped with laser optic scanners, detection devices that constantly fire small beams of lasers that detect even the smallest movements in the area. Not even her semblance could get past that unnoticed.

But she noticed one of the guard's did not have his scanner on. He was a cat faunus, and he looked bored. He scratched his butt nonchalantly and yawned.

A newbie.

Perfect.

She waited until he arrived the furthest edge of the perimeter closest to her. When he turned his back she used a burst of semblance to dash behind him. She struck his head from behind with the blunt edge of Crescent Rose. He dropped like a rock. She used her semblance once more to pull the unconscious body into the thicket of trees she hid behind, right at the edge of the valley. Her eyes darted around, watching for any signs of the patrol. No one seemed to have noticed the missing guard.

Taking a piece of rag from her pockets, she gagged him. It was the cloth she used to clean Crescent Rose and she was loathe to dirty it with some idiot's mouth, but it will have to do. Tying him up to a tree with a spare piece of rope, she stepped back to appraise her handiwork.

She slapped him. Hard.

He woke up, eyes bulging. He immediately started to struggle against the rope, but it held. She slapped him again, harder. His struggling intensified.

"Shush." she whispered, holding her middle finger to her mouth.

"Mmmhmmm MHHEHMMMMM!" he tried to yell.

Ruby punched him in the face with an aura-boosted fist. He crumpled, wheezing.

"This is how it's gonna work." she said. "I ask you questions. You answer them."

"FCKKKK YYYYY." he mumbled through the cloth.

A short slice later and the cat faunus was screaming through the cloth, clutching a bloodied finger. His pinkie was lying on the ground, a short spray of blood spatter tainting the snow.

"And for every time you refuse, I take a finger." she gave him a twisted smile. "Got it?"

Her captive nodded furiously.

"Just so you know, I can cut your head off the moment you think of shouting." she threatened warmly.

"Okay, just don't hurt me. Fuck, I didn't ask for this shit-"

"Shhh.." Ruby whispered, twirling Crescent Rose close enough to his neck to draw blood.

He froze immediately. A wet stain spread in his groin.

"Now you're going to tell me all you know about the Sanctuary. Your weapons, where you got them, how to get inside.. but most of all." she placed her hand on his throat and stared at the faunus with all the fury she had within.

"You're going to tell me where Travis is."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: I have no excuse.**

It's the typical author rant about life and getting busy, but hey, what can you do about it?

I think an update schedule should help. Let's see if I could get a chapter done twice a week. That sounds reasonable, right? With all the exams coming up and all the mandatory writing I've been doing, about four thousand words a week should be manageable.

* * *

><p>I hope you like it! Oh, and I haven't answered any of your reviews yet so I will do that right now:<p>

**xHeliwolfx** - thanks! Your review is extremely helpful and motivating. I am relatively new to the world of fanfiction and am pleased that you enjoyed it.

**Mistic Shadow** - I hope it continues to be interesting.

**SilverstormXD** - If you want Roman, you can make him a story yourself. Ranting about story trends doesn't help at all.

**Peoples** - I've had some writer's block recently so I slowed down considerably, but I intend to speed up in time. It takes some time adjusting writing to my daily grind so please be patient. In addition, I don't think my Ruby is super strong. She got her eye gouged out by a Beowulf, after all.

**Sharon1234** - Lovely review! I got the idea of this story when I considered how a young and idealistic Ruby would react to losing her teammates and betrayed by those she thought she could trust.

**Anonemuss14 -** You pointed out an intriguing detail. Now you know that it's not, but who knows.. I'm glad you enjoyed my story so far!

**UnkownSoul** - thank you! keep reading and more to come!

* * *

><p>Reviews are always appreciated! I'll answer them, too!<p>

Have a nice day!

-Deathwhisperer.


	7. Treacherous Haven

**Treacherous Haven**

* * *

><p>Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer - Sun Tzu<p>

* * *

><p><em>Optional song - From Shadows [Extended]<em>

* * *

><p>"My grandma hits harder than that-"<p>

WHAM!

"I'll shove my antlers up your-"

BLAM!

"You're a good advertisement for faunus birth control-"

BAM!

Despite his constant tirade of insults, Malcolm started to feel a little lightheaded. Being beat over and over again by a bull faunus can hurt like a bitch, and his bravado aside, the fat cow hits pretty damned hard. His face is covered in bruises, his left antler sports a snapped limb and his clothing is in tatters.

The prison guard struck him again. His head bent at an odd angle, but he resolved to not show it. Instead, the next time he came to hit him again he whipped his head forward, striking his tormentor in the face with his antlers.

"Wyvern must love sucking on your cow tits, you bovine piece of-"

"You're gonna pay for that." the prison guard swore.

By now the bull faunus had had enough and he discarded the blunt baton he used to beat Malcolm up for the better part of the morning. Picking up a serrated machete, he grinned maniacally at his captive.

'Let's see you talk tough after I carve you a new smile."

Bracing himself for the pain, Malcolm closed his eyes.

"That's enough, Ramrod."

The bull faunus stopped in his tracks.

The door opened abruptly, revealing a grim Wyvern. He was a well built man, graced with the sharp eyes of an eagle and thick feathers covering his arms. He wore a thick vest and army leggings.

"Get him up."

The prison guard did so begrudgingly, slipping a swift jab at Malcolm's ribs for good measure.

Wyvern looked at him with calculating eyes.

"Let's take a walk, shall we?"

* * *

><p><em>Whoa.<em>

It took a couple of fingers and a few threats to the babymaker, but she managed to coax all the necessary information from the unfortunate guard she left tied to the top of a pine tree in the middle of the forest, gagged with a rag. Taking a page out of Nora's book, she broke his legs to ensure that he gave her the correct information lest he'll be left alone to starve to death. Her methods had proved to be.. coercive. The younger Ruby would never condone such brutal interrogation methods, but she was short on time and desperation engenders desperate measures.

A maintenance access route, a few gagged guards and a close call to a patrolling squad later, here she was, sneaking around the small city. It took her the better part of the evening to enter the business district in the middle of the city, but her efforts has paid off well.

There must be tens of thousands of faunus here. There dozens of small gateways around the circular edge of the city. Former mining shafts, turned to entry points. A gargantuan central stalagmite rose in the middle, connecting the bottom of the cavern to the top. The ceiling was covered with stalactites, jutting downwards. Most of them are blunt, courtesy of faunus engineering. The few that remains are small enough and secured to the ceiling that they are not a threat to the houses below. As there is no rain underground, all the buildings within the Sanctuary are flat roofed. Most had chimneys with smoke billowing upwards. Ventilation shafts collect the smoke to stop it from smothering the city and gave life sustaining air from the surface above. It is upon one of these roofs that Ruby lay in hiding perched under the shadow of the central spire.

Her biggest obstacle would be the constant cycle of heavily armed patrols rotating around the city like a marching band. One useful piece of information she extracted from the lazy guard was that a coup take place four days ago. Led by the captain of the patrol, an eagle faunus called Wyvern, they ambushed the current Overseer in one of the entry tunnels. They managed to kill most of his entourage, but Roy managed to escape along with a few loyal bodyguards.

It seemed that Wyvern's coup was brought together by a common hatred for humans. Overseer Roy was considered far too lenient in allowing humans to enter and thrive within the previously faunus-exclusive sanctuary, and Wyvern took opportunity of the growing unrest to make his move. After his failed assassination attempt, the first thing he did was to banish all humans under the threat of death. The few hundred humans who lived in the safety of the Sanctuary was forced to leave the city, along with their belongings. The thought of hundreds of lives left to die in the cold wilderness of Atlas enraged Ruby even more than the coup itself.

She was far from the impulsive youth that she was, however, and have laid low to monitor and establish the patrol schedule. Unless she could move around the patrol cycle, there was little she could to to help. It took her the entire evening, but she was now well-acquainted with the rotating groups that she is confident enough that she could move through the city undetected.

Ruby moved around the rooftops, moving stealthily towards the massive stalagmite protruding in the middle of the city. She had turned her cape inside out, replacing crimson red with midnight black. Standing still, she might have been part of the granite stone the underground city was carved from.

As she travelled, she understood more and more about how the city had survived the near apocalyptic nightmare of the Tidal events. Nearly every inhabitant was armed, if not with a firearm then with various blades. The city were built into ringed levels, with multiple walls and barricades protect

It was then that she heard a commotion on the streets beneath her.

Against her better judgment, and tempted by curiosity, she poked her head to see what was going on.

Five members of the patrol group stood in a menacing semi circle around a hooded person, their weapons bared and at the ready. Judging from the figure, it seemed that it was a girl. They were yelling at her, telling her to present her identification cards. She ignored them, turning around and walking away. Infuriated, one of the younger members of the guard walked up to her from behind and ripped her hood off.

Ruby gasped. Her voice was lost in a collective sound of astonishment.

The girl was a human.

She had jet black hair, tied in an elegant ponytail. She wore a black coat that covered most her body, with purple attire underneath. Black leggings covered her long, lithe legs, and her hands were adorned with metal gauntlets. Turning around menacingly, she stared at the guard as if daring him to make a move. If the guards intimidated her, she showed no signs of it. Bright pink eyes, not unlike Ren's, were narrowed and sharp.

He scowled and grabbed her arm.

Big mistake.

She twisted his hand around until Ruby could hear the bones crack two stories above. The human girl kneed the guard in the groin and struck him in the jaw with a furious uppercut, her fist laced with purple aura. The man flew backwards, skidding on the cobblestones. The rest of his patrol group merely gaped in surprise, along with the dozens of onlookers who had gathered to see the arrest.

The leader of the group, a bear faunus, raised his rifle. He fired short bursts from his Reaper rifles, bullets designed to rip apart Grimm, flesh and bone. The girl's aura flared and she moved her arms with seemingly inhuman speed and punched them out of the air. When the leader charged at her with a bare mace, she raised her leg and kicked him in the chest. Ribs broke and the faunus flew away, blood spurting from his mouth. The aroma of lavender permeated the air.

It reminded Ruby of her first encounter with Cinder, how the woman brushed aside the most powerful rounds Crescent Rose can offer like puny flies. It chilled her to the bone. But nothing compared to the shock she felt when the girl drew her weapon to meet the rest of the patrol.

She thought it was lost when its owner died in the Siege of Atlas, but it seemed to be in pristine condition.

It goes by many names.

The Elemental Blade.

The Frozen Saber.

But Ruby knew it best as the Schnee Family Heirloom - the rapier known as Myrtenaster.

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><p>The rapier glowed red as the girl summoned a circle of flames to disperse the crowd. The guards' charge faltered upon facing the wall of infernal heat, but dissipated soon enough. Their opponent, it seemed, merely wanted to get the crowd out of the way.<p>

One of the guards, a monkey faunus, seemed to be at least slightly competent with his lightning rods. Carrying one in each hand, he stabbed at the girl swiftly, electricity crackling along the length of the baton as he did so. The girl gave ground, and while it seemed that she was losing the fight, Ruby could tell she was merely measuring her foe.

A few swings later, she made her move. She unclasped her coat and threw it at the faunus. If he had an edged weapon, he could have easily torn it apart, but his blunt weapons prevented him from doing so. Temporarily caught up in a tangle of black, the girl stabbed through the cloth cleanly. The man was dead before he hit the ground.

His comrades roared in rage and attacked together. One was a tall, thin wolf faunus who wielded a long halberd and the other a rabbit faunus equipped with a pair of Eastern-style nunchakus. Their combined assault seemed to trouble the purple eyed girl, the nunchaku wielder keeping her occupied and on the defense while his companion takes advantage of his longer reach to keep her from landing blows.

To make things worse for the human girl, a siren blared, signifying incoming reinforcements.

"Give it up, girl!" the rabbit faunus sneered.

"Over your dead body." the girl hissed.

The wolf faunus swung a devastating cut with his halberd, forcing her to deflect it with Myrtenaster. The rabbit faunus roared in triumph as he struck with both his weapons.

That was it. She had no other choice. She had to do it.

Time seemed to slow as she flicked open an entire chamber of her rapier.

A massive glyph appeared on the ground, and a blinding explosion of red blew up an entire side of the street.

Out of the ruins she emerged, radiating purple The aura had protected them from the explosion, but her faunus opponents were less fortunate. Their shattered bones and entrails were splattered all over the area. Her aura glowed once more and faded; she collapsed to the ground, exhausted.

Myrtenaster was glowing red, an entire vial spent in the defense of its wielder. The girl tried to raise the weapon to fight once more, but ended up dropping it on the ground. It was glowing red hot, overheated from overuse. The girl looked around wildly, her hair a mess and her calm demeanor gone. Other patrol groups are coming in numbers, and without her weapon, she had no fighting chance.

A dozen members of the elite guards, the Sentinels, appeared at the end of the street.

"There she is!" one of them shouted.

She tried to move, but ended up on her knees again - one of her legs were wounded with shrapnel. She cursed under her breath - her aura had not been enough to fully protect her from the explosion.

Was it the end?

The Sentinels opened fire.

She closed her eyes, but the bullets never came. Instead, she heard the ringing echoes of steel meeting steel. She opened her eyes to see a woman cloaked in red standing over her, deflecting the Sentinels' bullets with a giant crimson scythe. Red tendrils of aura extended across both of them, shielding them from what the scythe could not. Some of the Sentinels stood there, dumbfounded, but as they added to the barrage she could see the strain on the woman's face.

"Don't just sit there! Move it! the woman shouted, pointing at a nearby alley.

She didn't waste a second. Limping to the alleyway, she glanced back to see the woman's scythe retracting to a more compact form. She saw a grenade land under her mysterious savior.

"Watch out!" she shouted.

And the scythe wielder was no longer there.

She appeared right beside her, seeming to have teleported on the spot. A trail of.. roses? lay around the charred street. The red cloaked warrior grabbed her arm and slung it over her shoulder, and with a burst of aura she carried them to roof of an adjacent building with a powerful leap. They landed in a heap on the roof of the building, breathing hard. The stranger recovered first, getting up to her feet and extending a hand towards her. She took it and found herself lifted to her feet.

They're not out of trouble yet. She could see the more agile faunus of the Sentinels leaping to the rooftops around them, surrounding them with menacing looks.

"Stay here and don't die." the stranger said abruptly.

The scythe deployed again, and its wielder slammed it on the ground like a makeshift tripod. She fired pinpoint shots at the closest Sentinels, sending them over the roofs with gaping holes in their armor. The rest ducked and weaved between chimneys and returned fire with interest. The crimson cloaked fighter dodged them easily, going so far as to shooting them out of the air. The smaller calibre of the Reaper rifles were obliterated by the sniper scythe's heavier rounds.

It didn't last though. With three Sentinels remaining, the weapons clicked blankly, empty.

"Damn, out of bullets. Shoulda brought more." the woman muttered lackadaisically, sighing as she ripped the scythe out of the granite. She met the rest of the faunus in combat, aura flaring as she used her semblance to prevent being cornered. She caught one of the Sentinel's mace with her scythe. Forcing her weapon to flip, she disarmed the man, her opponent's weapon sent flying in the air. Diverting one of his companion's blow with the handle of her scythe, she gave him an aura-propelled kick. His armor crumpled and he fell to the ground. The other two stood back to back against the lightning fast heroine. She charged at one of them and he held out his weapon to block her. She ignored it entirely and took to the air, decapitating his partner with a powerful blow. She landed on the balls of her feet and ducked under the Sentinel's outraged strike before slicing the man in half with an underswing. The faunus's severed halves fell to the granite with wet splotches.

The scythe wielder shook her hands like dog, ridding it of the blood. It spattered on the rooftop, joining its owner in a growing pool of blood.

"Gross." she complained.

"Who are you?" the purple cloaked girl asked in wonder.

The woman smiled and tossed her red bangs aside. and she realized the crimson cloaked fighter must be only a few years older than her.

"A friend."

The closest patrols taken care of, they disappeared into the shadowy corners of the city.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Hey guys! My idea of the Sanctuary is a smaller version of Tronjheim from the Inheritance Cycle, albeit with a ceiling and far more modern when it comes to technology. I hope that helps you visualize the city better.**

**Fourze - it's good to know you're enjoying the fic!**

**Reviewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww! It keeps the story rollin'!**

**-Deathwhisperer**


	8. Luminous Twilight

**Luminous Twilight**

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><p>"<em>The sun loved the moon so much he dies every night to let her breathe."<em> - Anon.

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><p>Optional Music - the Eternal Forest<p>

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><p>As courageous as he'd like to believe he is, Malcolm felt a little bit scared. Wyvern is one sick son of a bitch, but he's also a cunning bastard. It's how he climbed the ladder of command; merciless moves and ruthless tactics. He certainly despise the eagle faunus, but to be honest he admires his skills. There's nothing wrong with admitting that - to defeat an enemy, one must first recognize what he is capable of. And the usurping Overseer is capable of many things.<p>

That said, Malcolm won't let any of it show. He was in chains, bruised and beaten, but he hasn't lost his common sense. The prison guard walked behind him, forcing him to keep moving with a lightning rod. He swore with every sting, making promises about the bull faunus's death, the questionable matter of his ancestry and vivid descriptions of what he'd do with the guard's apparently minuscule genitals once he got his hands on him.

He's worried about his partner, but Travis can handle himself. He probably escaped already - Malcolm joked in his mind, just like his brother Roland. Knowing Roy, he's got to have a plan to free the city soon. Yeah, that sounds like them.

Empty words.

They were in the upper floors of the prison level, directly beneath the city. Every few corridors they travel he would get a glimpse of the city from behind barred windows. A shallow slant marked their descent to the lower floors of the dungeon. The air grows thicker the lower they went, and a faint feeling of claustrophobia washed over him.

The coup leader hasn't said a single word since they started the walk, although the same can't be said for the prison guard. He was growing tired of Malcolm's tirade, but it seemed that a single sentence out of Wyvern was enough to safeguard him against further retaliation for his insults. For the time being, at least.

"Let him go." Wyvern said.

"What?" the bull faunus exclaimed, disbelievingly.

"He's tired, dehydrated and unarmed. What's the harm?" Wyvern said light-heartedly. His calm demeanor suddenly shifted to a dark, threatening mask. "Or are you saying I don't have the situation under control?"

"Of-Of course not, Overseer!" the guard blabbered. He produced a key from his combat vest and unlocked Malcolm's chains. They clattered to the ground.

"Now, Malcolm." Wyvern said. "The thing is-"

The moment he felt the weight on his legs disappear, Malcolm's right foot shot out behind him, striking the bewildered guard in the knees. He heard the sound of bones cracking - he broke a kneecap. The bull faunus was over his astonishment the next second and immediately launched a powerful right hook, roaring in anger as he did so. Malcolm sidestepped, used his feet to kick up the chains that once imprisoned him and tackled the guard, wrapping the cold steel around his throat. An instrument of captivity turned to one for freedom. How ironic.

The bull faunus gasped for air, and slammed his hulking body against the wall, smashing Malcolm into it. The air glowed brown - the guard was using his faunus heritage and aura to multiply his strength. Malcolm's grip weakened, and the guard slipped out, attempting to elbow him in the attempt. The deer faunus recovered just in time to avoid the crushing blow that created a small crater in the wall.

They separated, and used a moment to gather their energy.

_What is Wyvern doing? _Malcolm thought. The eagle faunus leaned against one of the dungeon's many doors, watching the fight, amusement twinkling in his eyes.

"Subdue him, Garwog, and you can be the warden of this facility." Wyvern interjected.

Great. Now the bull faunus was breathing steam through his nose, face flaring and eyes bulging.

No matter. His opponent is right before him, and dust damn he is strong. The bull faunus make excellent tanks - their aura allows them to become unstoppable powerhouses that demolish through infantry. If he doesn't finish this fight soon, chances are the warden-wannabe will land a blow eventually. If he's lucky, it would kill him. It he's not, he'd suffer an agonizing death by collapsed lungs for the next few days. To make matters worse, he's starved and bruised, and his aura is draining as well.

The guard shouted a hoarse battle cry and charged, legs pumping and fists trained at Malcolm's chest. Two hundred kilos of flesh and armor, driven to a near unstoppable momentum.

It comes down to one gambit.

Malcolm did not move a single inch. He stood unwavering against the monstrous faunus's charge. When they reached each other, it felt as if time slowed down.

The fists were the greatest threat he faced, and he used his arms to deflect them. Had they collided straight on, every piece of bone in his arms would have been shattered, but all he needed to do was push them away from him. His arms rattled from the glancing blow, but it was worth the astonished expression on his enemy's face.

He channeled every last iota of his aura to his antlers and lowered his head. They hardened, changing from light brown to pure black, and struck the bull faunus right in the throat. Malcolm felt one of his sharper antlers impale the guard in the neck, the one vulnerable spot in his armor. It kept going until it pierced through the spinal cord, sealing his opponent's fate.

What ensued wasn't pretty, though. The faunus's arms fell as he lost control over his body, but his charge was still considerably powerful. Garwog slammed into Malcolm, breaking the wall behind him. He felt ribs cracking. They both toppled into an empty cell in a crumpled heap of faunus flesh and armor.

Malcolm groaned, opening his eyes to see the warden-not-to-be lying limp on the ground, eyes white and blood pouring from his throat. Rubble lay scattered all around them, and the cell's light flickered on, detecting a new inhabitant inside.

What unsettled him the most was that Wyvern watched it all while cleaning his fingernails, absolutely aloof to the fate of his guard. His eyes were shining with delight, and he started a slow clap.

"Bravo! Absolutely astounding performance, Malcolm; I expect nothing less from Travis's second in command!"

Malcolm laid his head back to the ground. He wouldn't even try bluffing his way out - he knew it was over. He doesn't have any energy left to fight the Overseer, but at least he killed that Garwog guy.

"It was worth killing the horned bastard." Malcolm smiled, blood smeared on his teeth. "What are you waiting for? Kill me already."

"Why would you suggest I do such a thing?" Wyvern returned the grin. He lit a cigarette and walked towards him. "You're far too precious to die in some dust forsaken prison cell."

"You think I'd join you, you treacherous swine?"

"Go easy in the words there, cupcake." Wyvern threatened, his countenance returning to one of cunning and deception. "Why not stand with the winning side while you can?"

"If I jump down from your ego to your intelligence quota, I'd die."

"Oh, that was a good one." Wyvern complimented, hooking his arm around Malcolm's neck in a choke hold. "I predicted as much, coming from the stubborn idiot you are, so I brought something to help.. coerce you from your position."

The usurper unlocked the cell next to them with a wave of a card.

Malcolm felt his heart stop for a second.

"Malc?" a small voice said. It came from a teenage girl lying on the floor, covered in filth and waste. Her clothes were in tatters and the hallway's lights revealed countless bruises across her body. Tiny antlers protruded on her head, but it was obvious that part of them has been sawed off.

"Is that.. you?" she croaked.

"Ri.. na." he whispered. The girl raised her hand feebly and sagged, unconscious."What have you done to her?"

"The usual. You received the same treatment this morning, correct?"

"SHE'S FOURTEEN!" Malcolm exploded. Gray aura swirled around him. He threw a devastating punch at the sadistic faunus. It was blocked by a firm arm radiating a golden glow. Malcolm continued his assault, fueled outrage. His blows were stopped by the Overseer's own. "A LITTLE GIRL, YOU FEATHERED PRICK!"

"I WAS NINE WHEN I FIRST KI." Wyvern shouted, his calm demeanor shattering. He deflected a jab and returned the favor with a crushing kick to Malcolm's torso. The deer faunus gagged, buckled and spat blood. "Eleven when a roving band of humans killed my family! An entire year they tortured me," Wyvern kicked him again and again and again and again until he was a broken shell on the floor. "Twelve when I broke free and slaughtered those wretched animals and part of the elite guard by the time I was her age!"

"_I'm.. going to.."_

"You're not going to do anything." Wyvern said, brushing off his vest from the dust their fight raised. He regained his composure and stood before the cell's door. "Thing is, Malcolm, you can either help me or or die. Knowing you, you'd gladly accept the latter option, but with your sister here, I _know_ you will concede."

"You don't agree with my ideals, but I assure you they are what we need. Humans has, is and always will be a threat to the faunus everywhere. I intend to change that, Malcolm, and I will sacrifice anything and everything for the our freedom, including the life of a single faunus girl. But do what we ask and I'll let her go, I swear that by my ancestors. I'd even guarantee her safety in the Sanctuary. I am ruthless, not heartless. I know full well killing her would serve the faunus no purpose. What you can do, however, will. So, Malcolm."

The eagle faunus grabbed him by his neck, staring at him with burning intensity.

"You're going to help us catch Roland Wulf. Or rot to death with your sister in this cell, with no one to mourn your wretched souls."

* * *

><p>"What do you mean, it's not Myrtenaster?"<p>

The moment they arrived at a silent location, a small dump situated between two desolate buildings, Ruby launched into full interrogation mode at her newly acquired companion. Her name was Mauve Lin and she was twenty years old. She lived in Sanctuary after the fall of Atlas. The others tolerated her because she was an excellent fighter, something the city sorely needed in the first months of its existence. But when Ruby asked her how she got her hands on Myrtenaster, she merely looked at the Huntress with a confused expression.

"I have no idea of this Myrtan-thing you are talking about!" Mauve insisted.

"Then where did you get it? And how can you use it so well if you don't know what it is?"

"It was my stepmother's! She gave it to me before she died!"

Her head swam around. What on Remnant?

"What's her name?"

Silence.

".. She said it's not a good idea to tell people about her."

"Tell. Me." Ruby said menacingly.

".. Winter. Winter Schnee."

Ruby collapsed against the alleyway wall. The purple haired girl looked on with a concerned expression, but refrained from saying anything when Ruby raised her hand. She gestured at what is apparently not Myrtenaster. She took a moment to observe the silver blade. Mauve was right - it is not Myrtenaster. It was pretty damned close, though. She recalled that Myrtenaster did not have a sheath like this one, and that this saber sported an extra set of dust cartridge - purple dust. The grip was darker, the crossguard was wider and the blade was longer.

If Weiss were here she'd definitely lecture Ruby for not recognizing her own partner's blade when she saw it.

"Her sister, huh?" she murmured, not loud enough for the other woman to hear.

"I didn't know her for that long." Mauve admitted. "I was thirteen at the time. My brother and I were struggling to survive in our house in the southern district. The city was besieged, but we were sure everything would turn out fight. Atlas was the center of Remnant's military power. My dad was a member of the infantry and my mother worked as a nurse in the airfleet."

Mauve sat down besides her, staring at the granite ceiling of the Sanctuary above. They sat in silent camaraderie for a few minutes before the younger woman began recounting her story.

"A month into the siege, mother didn't come back. The Nevermore swarm that overwhelmed Mistral took the air fleet by surprise. You must've heard the news. Everyone in Atlas did. Three thousand aviation personnel, dead. Just like that."

"After mom was gone, dad rarely came back from his work with the garrison. And soon enough, he never did."

"Everyone in the apartment was gone but nobody checked if we were still there. We were. My brother was only a year older than I was - we didn't know what to do or where to go. Food was running out and water has been down for weeks ever since those wretched Deathstalkers drilled through the aqueduct system."

"And then they broke through." Mauve hugged her knees, shivering in reminiscence of the tragic events that had transpired in her past.

"I thought we were going to die right then and there. Grimm everywhere, writhing masses of black monsters rampaging through our neighborhood. There was this one neighbour we had, right? A kind old lady, the one who lives next door and bakes you cookies whenever you come by. We saw an ursa rip her apart, screaming, alive, right in front of us. My brother never spoke a single word since."

"We hid in a closet while a Beowulf tore apart what little was left of our home. It left a few hours later, taking away the last of our food."

"We began to starve. We were thirsty too. The snow we used to drink was tainted with ash and dirt. Grimm crawled everywhere. We couldn't leave, but we'd die if we stay, too."

Mauve raised her head, smiling faintly in nostalgia.

"Then she came."

"Winter Schnee, eldest daughter of the family that owned the biggest dust company in Remnant, killing common Grimm in the slums of Atlas. Could you believe it? Neither could we. She was leading the small private army the company owned to take back the city from the Grimm. She found us, saved us, even took us in when the shelters said they were full."

"They were winning, you know? It was unreal."

"But not for long." Ruby said sadly.

"No." Mauve agreed. "The Tide came, and Atlas fell like every city before it.." she faltered. "If only I was there.."

"Don't kid yourself." Ruby snapped. Mauve looked up in surprise at the ferocity of her voice. "I've blamed myself too. For not being there, for not being with my partner when she needed me.. but it doesn't change anything. Running away didn't, too. I.. I betrayed them. I ran away when I was needed most, when I could've saved lives. I hid in some dust forsaken wasteland as far north as I could go, living, sleeping, hunting, eating, reading, living.. It doesn't help, Mauve. All you can do is suck it up and move forward, even though it hurts like a bitch."

There was a short period of silence, Ruby's bitter words fading in the darkening alleyway. Night has fallen and the city's lights were fading away until they were covered in darkness. The faunus can see perfectly well in the dark, but to Ruby and Mauve everything was pitch black save for the faintest glow of the few street lights that continue to shine.

"Ruby, I.." Mauve started.

"Sorry. I got carried away there." Ruby apologized.

"It's fine."

Pause.

"You said you could've saved lives. Were you in of the army?"

"I was a Huntress." Ruby said, . "My partner was Weiss Schnee. Winter's little sister and.. your aunt. Her weapon was very similar to this one."

"She never told me she had one." Mauve muttered. She took the blade back from Ruby and caressed it fondly. "Her name is Nivalis."

"Did.. did Winter teach you how to use it?" Ruby asked tentatively.

Mauve lowered her head, downcast.

"She didn't live long enough to. No, I learned to use it myself. And not very well, looking back on the dust explosion." she looked at Nivalis with a scrunched up expression. "Didn't know it can overheat like that."

"Don't feel so bad! It happened to my partner too." Ruby said. "Weiss always rants on and on about perfection but there was this one time she used two whole cartridges in one go!"

"How is that even possible? Shouldn't the weapon break or something?"

"Beats me. One minute we were fighting three nest's worth of Taijutus and the next we had a small thunderstorm above and a blizzard raging everywhere."

"How could she get dust of that quality? It must have cost-"

"Nothing, not to her. Heiress to the SDC, remember?"

"Oh.. right. You sound like you were really close to her."

"I was. But," Ruby chuckled. "We didn't exactly like each other in the beginning."

"You made it sound like you've been best friends all life long."

"I wish. I sneezed at her dust vials and made a small crater in front of the school! Not as big as the one you made back there, but big enough she was furious. Jaune actually called me crater face for doing that- oh, Jaune's another friend of mine, he leads his own team. He's clumsy and kind of an idiot but he's really kind and helpful and he sucked at first but he turned out really good cause he's got a crazy amount of aura, but that's only because Pyrrha helped him train, and Pyrrha's the best Huntress in Mistral, she won the Vytal competition in our first year there, with the team's help, of course. You should've seen Nora eating her pancakes while fighting an entire team and Ren's aura control is so good he could punch the stinger right off a Deathstalker! But Blake can do that too, she's a cat faunus, see and she can make shadows and stuff.. but her partner's cool, too! She's my sister Yang and we're actually half sisters, which is probably why I don't have her hair which I sometimes think she loves more than me but it's okay and I-.. I.."

"Ruby?" Mauve looked on, concern in her eyes. "You're…"

She felt her eyes blur. She touched her cheek and found it wet with tears, their trails streaking down her face like a small river.

All her years in the wilderness she never talked to anyone about the reason she left in the first place. Isolation was beyond harsh for the awkward girl who loved talking and eating with friends, but she managed to cope. She'd talk to her books, to Crescent Rose, to the prey she slew, to the faint breeze in the wind and the majestic gale of the blizzard. She kept her grief and her sorrow locked away in a vault of ice within her heart and threw away the key, believing she'd never need it again. But the vault has cracked, her stony visage shattered, and the floodgates poured forth.

"Oh, _I miss them so much_." Ruby sobbed. "I miss them so, so much. I'd give my right arm to hear Weiss lecture me just once, or- or have Yang pound my back so hard I'd spit out my cookie, to.. to.."

She felt a pair of arms encircling her, pulling her into a warm embrace.

"It's okay." Mauve said. "I'm sure they miss you too."

The purple haired girl rubbed her back, trying to ease the pain, the hurt, the guilt, the burden. Ruby cried into her shoulders, every wall broken, every feeling unleashed and every scar reopened, and when they bleed, it wasn't the crimson hue of blood, but the clearest reflection of tears.

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><p><strong>AN - Each chapter keeps getting bigger..**

**No review guys? Come on! I promise I will reply to each and everyone even if they're just a simple "ok" or "trash". I thrive on it. I caress them in the middle of the night, whispering, "Precious... My PRECIOUSSSSSSSSS!"**

**I probably belong in a loony bin but then I'd never get to finish the story, eh? **

**Have a good day!**

**-Deathwhisperer.**


	9. Interlude - Fading Light

**Interlude - Fading Light**

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><p><em>"Can your children fight a war?"<em>

_"I hope they never have to."_

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><p>Optional Music – Time to Say Goodbye<p>

* * *

><p>"I'm beat." Ruby said, collapsing face first on the steel belly of the dropship. "I fwink I cwan shweep fow a week." she said, mumbling against the floor.<p>

"Ruby, that's disgusting!" Weiss chided. "We stood on there this morning!"

"Don't care. Wake me up next month." Yang said, joining her sister with a crash, and Weiss had to admit she was feeling the same way. Blake was already out on one of the seats. They were all covered in bruises and scratches, their auras too drained to heal their bodies. The furious battle they fought in a few minutes ago was the most vicious of them yet. A quartet of Nevermores had nested too close to a village and since the veteran Hunters and senior Huntsmen were occupied with the increasing frequency of Grimm raids, team RWBY were dispatched to take down the flying monsters. Nevermores are part of the higher class Grimm and Ozpin would never resort to sending second year students to dealing with the winged Grimm, but desperation forced his hand. The girls assured him that it was fine, and that they could handle it, but Weiss saw how unwilling the headmaster was in letting them go for such a difficult task.

The dropship reverberated as the engines whirred to life, and they soared off into the air. The heiress enjoyed the soothing breeze of Vytalian summer and felt her body relax. It has been a hard day and there were bound to be more in the future.

They'd fought Beowolves and the occasional Ursa like every other team, but being assigned to dealing with four of the winged Grimm was getting out of hand. Combat policy dictated that to take down a Nevermore a full squad should be present, or at least two graduated Huntsmen. Were things getting that desperate?

The past few months were full of escalating skirmishes. It started out as a mild increase, with fourth years being sent to the field earlier than usual. Soon third years students were called to help control the exploding Grimm population and eventually the second years were finally ordered to battle as well. She heard Ozpin threatened to leave his position if the Council even so much as suggest implementing first year students into the conflict.

Like every other student, Weiss relishes challenge. That said, the unrelenting stream of missions they were forced to fight in is becoming ridiculous - and, though she won't admit readily admit it, exhausting. As prodigious and skilled she was, battling high class Grimm daily isn't something a second year student should be doing. Other teams weren't doing so well; if the rumors in the mess hall this morning was true, the second year had suffered their first casualty. And there were more bound to come.

Surprisingly enough, not a single person complained about the rising intensity and quantity of missions. It was what they signed up for, after all - even Jaune was working overtime. The clumsy idiot had grown to a fine warrior under Pyrrha's tutelage. The only person who's truly enjoying the surge of assignments would be the ever energetic Nora. Dust knows how Ren kept up with her.

Weiss smiled. The Grimm are stirring, the war is escalating and the whole damned planet is spiraling into chaos. But as long as she had her teammates next to her, she wouldn't have it any other way. She allowed herself to rest and descended into a fitful sleep.

The dropship landed in Beacon's shipyard with a light jolt, waking team RWBY from their slumber. Weiss rubbed her eyes and yawned. Ruby woke up groggily and helped pull her groaning sister to her feet. Weiss shook Blake awake gently, passing her a bottle of water which the cat faunus accepted gratefully. They stepped off the plane gingerly and sighed happily. The combat had ceased for the time being and they intend to use every second of their spare time to relax.

"Hey Ruby!" a cheerful voice greeted. "How'd the hunt go?"

It was then that the crimson cloaked Huntress realized that there was an entire team standing before them. Ruby smiled in response to the warm greeting and gave the girl a high five.

"Awesome! Kind of tired, though. What are you doing here, Beryl? You first year kids

"I'm the same age as you are!" the blue haired girl said rebelliously, extending her tongue to mock her upperclassmen. "And we're here to help!"

"Don't tell me." Blake frowned. "Ozpin authorized first year students for combat?"

"Professor Ozpin has been.. demoted." Beryl mumbled, her cheery demeanor gone. "The Council took over the academy. General Onyx is temporarily in charge."

The entirety of team RWBY gasped in surprise and outrage.

"WHAT?!" Ruby shouted, gripping her cloak so hard her hands paled. "THEY CAN'T DO THAT!"

"We must." a new voice said. A man appeared from the hallway leading to the shipyard. He was a well built man, imposing and intimidating, his figure straight and unwavering. Numerous medals decorated his black suit, which was only slightly darker than his gray skin. He nodded his head towards the blue haired girl.

"General Onyx." Beryl greeted courteously.

"Ms. Indigo" the general replied. "I suggest you get going on your mission. Those Beowolves are not going to kill themselves."

"Y-Yes, general." Beryl said, saluting the elder general. She gestured for the rest of her team to board the dropship. They look scared, but determined to do their duty.

The moment the dropship took off, Ruby exploded.

"How DARE you steal headmaster Ozpin's place!" she yelled, undeterred by the rank the man before her held. He merely looked on, silent in the face of the young girl's tirades.

"Ruby!" Weiss warned.

"Sis-" Yang said worriedly.

"Who do you think you are?" Ruby seethed, hands twitching over Crescent Rose. "You think you can come here and just walk around like you own it!? Beacon doesn't belong to you!"

Yang moved to restrain her sister before she could lash out.

"I know that full well, Ms. Rose." the general said. Despite Ruby's tone, the older man seemed to hold no grudge for it. "Believe me, I did so out of necessity, not out of want."

"Speaking of which, what do you want, general?" Weiss took over, concerned that Ruby would explode in anger again. "People of your rank do not waste their time welcoming second year students, especially not these days."

"As frank as usual, Ms. Schnee. Very well. I come here to ask you all a favor"

"Shove it." Ruby said. "Not interested."

"Let me rephrase that - an order." Onyx repeated menacingly, but then softened. "Your skills are exceptional, all of you. As you well know, we are in a time fraught with danger and disorder. The Grimm are on the aggressive and every village outside the Kingdoms are under constant attack. All four Hunter battalions are working overtime to eliminate their threat, but frankly we are horribly outnumbered."

"How bad?" Ruby asked, eyes shut trying to contain herself.

"For every Hunter we have, we estimate a hundred and ten Grimm." Onyx said truthfully. "Believe me, we would never consent to letting first year students to war but the casualties we have sustained forced us to do otherwise."

"Nothing forced you to do anything." Ruby insisted.

"You saw 'em." Yang said. "They're just kids. They're not ready."

"Going for child soldiers, huh?" Blake hissed. "And you call yourself a general-"

"_You have _NO IDEA!" the general exploded. A gray aura exuded from his body and the four Huntresses took an involuntary step back."_The steps I took to stop them! How I pleaded and begged!"_

He took a moment to regain his composure and sighed. The macabre aura receded into his resolute stature, and he inhaled deeply before continuing with a sad voice.

"My daughter is a first year student in Mistral. Her partner died two days ago."

"I'm.. sorry." Blake said. She couldn't bear the thought of losing Yang. Boisterous and raucous she may be, but the passionate blonde was the one person she refuse to lose. She could only imagine her daughter's plight, her grief. "I didn't know."

The general's terse expression eased at the apology.

"It is of no consequence, Ms. Belladonna." Onyx replied. "We are all running on fumes lately. The truth is, I volunteered for this position because sooner or later, Ozpin would be demoted. He is a good headmaster, but he has been defying the Council's orders far too long. I am here to make sure they wouldn't go too far. I will make sure of that, I swear on my daughter's life."

"But that's not why I'm here. General Ironwood and I have compiled a list of exceptional Hunters, unparalleled prodigies in their field. All four of you have qualified. I know of the mission you undertook today - taking down four Nevermores is something only veteran Hunters could do. Truth be told, a lone team of second year students against Grimm only veteran Huntsmen should be fighting and winning without a single casualty is a miracle in itself."

"Of course we could take on a few oversized birds." Ruby boasted.

"My point exactly." Onyx agreed. "I am here to personally extend an invitation for your team to transfer under my command. I am creating a new division outside the four existing Hunter battalions, Ms. Rose. A handpicked few who I believe have the power and resolve to turn this around. You four are among the youngest qualified."

"What makes you think we'll accept?" Weiss interjected.

"Because if this situation keeps escalating, we predict the loss of every village outside the four Kingdoms within the year." Onyx said. "The harsh truth is that the Council is getting desperate enough to consider recruiting Combat Schools. The last meeting we had regarding that matter ended with five in favor and seven against, but that may change soon."

"Unbelievable." Blake said.

'I have a plan, Ms. Rose." Onyx said with an air of finality. "A final gambit. And with your help, we can end the Grimm once and for all."

'Once again I implore you - will you join us?"

"Do we even have a choice?" Ruby asked weakly. "We'll come."

"I am pleased you made the right decision." Onyx smiled wanly. He raised his closed hands and revealed four badges within. They were small and sleek, matte black with a simple insignia engraved on it - a single red line. The girls received them warily, and the general stepped back.

"Team RWBY.. Welcome to the Ranger corps."

* * *

><p>START FILE

Encryption Cypher Nine

-FOR YOUR EYES ONLY-

FROM: Sable Shade

TO: Gatekeeper

FILE NAME: BLACK TIDE

It's awake.

/END FILE

* * *

><p>AN: I love teasing you guys.

Lovely reviews people!

**Fourze:** I'm not sure what you meant by Ruby Rant, but judging by the emoticon it seems that you are saddened by the events that have befallen poor Ruby.

Good.

**Erik Graves son of Death:** I just looked up Zabimaru. Cool weapon. Wait no more! *Twirls Nivalis*

**Torqueo: **Slow clap - best review yet! I am glad to know you're enjoying this so far! As you may know there's a small teaser in this chapter concerning the Tide (which will explained thoroughly, just wait!). And yeah.. Ruby just can't get a break, poor soul. As for your Yang.. *wink* *wink* *nudge* *nudge*.

I am not a crook.

**Lordmarc: **Well.. Ruby technically counts as someone, right? Hehe.

**Nameless guest reviews: **I will keep going as asked.

* * *

><p>-Deathwhisperer.<p> 


	10. Battlehunger

**Battlehunger**

* * *

><p>"A person who will not die for something is not fit to live." - Martin Luther King Jr.<p>

* * *

><p>Optional Music - Red like Roses I+II<p>

* * *

><p>"<em>Calling to all members of the Garrison; fall back!" Commander Buzan shouted into his scroll. "Follow the escape routes and regroup at the third barricade! I repeat, fall back!"<em>

_He was hunched over a holographic tactical map of Atlas. Nearly half of the city was marked with a faint red glow, which represents the extent of Grimm invasion into the seat of Remnant's military power. Most of the remaining area were marked yellow, with a few specks of blue scattered haphazardly across the map._

_Behind him, a certain figure cloaked in red leaned against the wall pensively, a bloodied bandage wrapped around her eye. She looked out the command tower and to the western city districts. Overrun by various Grimm, the three thousand strong defenders of the Garrison are out there somewhere, strewn across the mess of ruins and smoking rubble, making their way back to the next line of defense or die trying._

"_Commander, how can I help?"_

_Her voice was barely above a whisper, but the ice within them overwhelmed all other sources of noise. The Commander temporarily stopped bellowing orders and considered the Huntress before him. He was an experienced man, capable of leading even the most unruly crowd, but the girl before him was an eerie exception. Her aura was exuding like a mist, but instead of the bright red he saw this morning this time it was a thicker and darker hue of crimson. Something happened that evening when he assigned her to the evacuation of quadrant nineteen.. something even he was loathe to ask._

"_Are you sure, Ms. Rose? You should recuperate from your wounds. To be honest, in your state you shouldn't even be standing-"_

"_I know my limits, Commander." she snapped. "And I promise you I am still capable of combat."_

_The general paused, taken aback._

"_Very well. Quadrant twenty two, a supply depot. I counted it lost but with your skills we should be able to take it back with a company from the Garrison. Let's see.. CHARLIE COMPANY!" he shouted into his scroll. "Stop the evacuation and plot a route back to Q22!"_

"_Commander?" a captain appeared on the hologram map. "With all due respect, that's suicide!"_

"_I'm sending you some backup."_

"_We need a whole dust damn battalion to take the depot back, and from what I understand you don't have a lot of people to spare. How many are coming?"_

"_Just one."_

"_.. General?" The captain asked with incredulity._

"_A hunter, Captain Jarr." Buzan elaborated. He looked back only to find fading rose petals drifting slowly to the ground. He frowned._

"_And a pretty damned good one, too."_

* * *

><p>"-by? Ruby?" a familiar voice roused her from her slumber. She opened her silver eyes blearily.<p>

".. Just a minute, Yang.." she mumbled, adjusting her cloak around her once again.

She gasped in surprise when she felt an ice cold blade touching her cheeks. A burst of semblance later, she was at her feet, clutching Crescent Rose and ready to face her assailant. She sighed in relief when she saw a smirking Mauve holding a blue-glowing Nivalis.

"You scared the crap out of me." Ruby said.

Mauve's amusement disappeared, replaced by worry.

"There's a patrol coming this way. You got a nice nap but we gotta move."

"Got any idea where to go?" Ruby asked, stretching her body taut in preparation for a run.

"I've got a hideout south of the city. Follow me." Mauve said, gesturing at a nearby alleyway.

They broke into a light jog, moving at a relatively slow pace for the sake of caution. Their weapons were sheathed but their hands were on the hilts, ready to deploy them at any moment. The looming buildings of the Sanctuary casts menacing shadows across the slums. Ruby could barely see - the city truly was built for Faunus. They would have no problem seeing in this darkness, but it served only to hinder her progress. The only sources of light were old street lights, and even those are few and far inbetween the empty roads.

Not entire empty, that is. There were a few faunus here and there, sitting contentedly under the shadows.

"It's the slums. The homeless can't stay in the center of the city." Mauve explained.

"Sounds harsh." Ruby said empathically.

"I was actually one of them, back in the day." Mauve chuckled. "Trust me, we're fine the way we are. There are several shelters around the slums and even if they're not full, they still hand out food to the rest."

"Why is that better than living IN the city?" Ruby asked, confused.

"Oh, we don't want to live anywhere close to the Faunus elite." Mauve said with disdain. "They're a bunch of self-absorbed bastards. The lower ranked have it better with each other."

".. The faunus have ranks?" Ruby asked timidly.

".. Are you sure you're a Huntress? Or are you really that clueless?" Mauve said with a disapproving expression on her face.

"Hey, I haven't been out in the real world for seven years!" she protested.

"It's been there since the Faunus War." Mauve said.

Ruby sputtered, trying to find a valid excuse for her ignorance. Eventually she gave up and relented.

"My bad, I guess."

"The way things are, major faunus tends to hold the power." Mauve elaborated. "They would be the 'strong" ones - bears, big cats, birds of prey. Minor faunus are often disregarded and used for labor - they would be rabbits, rodents and insects."

"Insect faunus exist?" Ruby said disbelievingly.

"I have no idea how you managed to survive on so little knowledge for so long." Mauve joked.

Ruby made a face and poked at her companion.

"Just get us there."

Mauve complied and they set off once more into the shadows.

"Damn it." Mauve swore.

"What is it?" Ruby asked, concerned.

They were crouched on a rooftop of an apartment building overlooking the slums. The rooftop was covered with dust and spider webs, but Mauve insisted that it was the best vantage point in this part of the city. They were looking down on rows of small houses in a run down neighborhood. A twenty-strong squad of Sentinels were combing the area, violently ripping doors and, from the sound of the commotion, rudely searching inside the premises. Minor faunus were tossed out of their homes while the Sentinels ravaged them. They seemed to be looking for something.

"They're here."

"What's here?"

"My hideout, you dummy! I told you that's why we're here in the first place!"

For some reason, instead of feeling bad, the Huntress smiled at the rebuke.

"What's so funny?" Mauve asked, confuse.

"That's the exact thing Weiss would tell me in this situation." she smiled, but now that Mauve took a closer look at her expression she found it tinged with sadness.

"Right." Mauve said. "In any case, I need to get some things from the houses. I've got some high caliber ammunition I'm sure you could use as well."

"How are we gonna get there, though?" Ruby inquired.

"I've.. prepared an escape route. We can use it to get inside."

"Where is this escape route?"

* * *

><p>"Ugh. Ah. Ew." Ruby cringed. The moment her foot entered the filthy muck, she squealed.<p>

"Cut it out." Mauve said, rolling her eyes. She dropped into the murky waters without a care in the world. "You're a Huntress, you've had worse, right?"

"Look, I've disemboweled my fair share of Grimm but I've never had to walk in this.. gunk."

"It's a concoction of mining sewage, mineral washing water and human-"

"Don't tell me." Ruby moaned, stopping the purple haired girl from continuing.

The city's sewers are pretty filthy. It seemed that hygiene wasn't very high on the list when it comes to survival and priorities. The red cloaked woman thanked her stars that her boots were water-proof or her feet would be soaked in sludge by now.

Above the two of them, the city was bustling with activity. It was six in the morning and most of Sanctuary's inhabitants are already up. There were chores to tend to, dust to mine and Grimm to kill. Ruby could sympathize - she spent most of her life doing the same. It saddened her to think that some of the children born in the city would spend all their lives struggling to survive. Mauve had mentioned that schooling were practically nonexistent within the underground city - children were either home schooled or taught important skills and craft the moment they learn to walk. It was a necessity, however - the discipline and consistency of the faunus lifestyle had kept them alive all these years and if things go well it should do so for a long time.

"In any case, it's a great escape route. No one would ever voluntarily go in here, much less the honorable Sentinels." Mauve said, sarcasm dripping from her tone.

"Couldn't you have made a different escape route? You know, somewhere less.. dirty?" Ruby complained.

"Sure. It's called a door, but it's a little occupied with big bad faunus right now." Mauve mocked.

"Hilarious. You're worse than Yang." Ruby said.

"I'll take that as a compliment." Mauve replied smugly. "Now shush. We're almost there."

They arrived below a small hatch on the ceiling. Mauve tugged it open once or twice and it creaked as it was violently pushed upwards.

A purple head peeked out of the trapdoor, looking around the room.

"Clear." Mauve confirmed.

Ruby rose (getting old?) up the escape hole and proceeded to check out the place. It was a humble home, absolutely perfunctory and wasting no space. There was an old scroll sitting on a wooden desk, a single bed tucked in a corner of the room, an open wardrobe full of messy clothing, a door Ruby presumed leads to the bathroom, a really cozy fireplace and a giant treasure chest at the foot of the bed.

"Neat." Ruby complimented.

"Thanks." Mauve said, beaming.

Ruby sighed contentedly and crashed on the floor of the house. She smeared sewer sludge on the floor, much to Mauve's annoyance.

"Can you stop that?" Mauve said.

"Why should I? Like you said, you're already busted." Ruby said stubbornly.

".. Fine. Which reminds me, we should hurry before they get to this one. The shouting is getting close."

Mauve scrounged around her treasure chest and tossed a belt of sniper

"Where on Remnant did you get a bunch of military grade, high caliber sniper ammunition?"

"We were just there."

"The SEWERS?!" Ruby asked disbelievingly.

"Hey, people throw out all sorts of things."

"NOT THESE!" she said, cooing the sniper rounds in her arms. "There you go, you're safe now. Mommy's got you."

Mauve unconsciously took a step back from the eccentric Huntress.

Filling her magazines with the newfound munitions, Ruby sat down on the bed. Mauve busied herself with replacing parts of Nivalis and reloading the dust cartridges she had spent in the fight the previous evening.

Deep down, Ruby smiled. It felt like home again, as if they were students at Beacon preparing for a demonstration match. No, with someone like Mauve against her, it felt more like the Vytal Tournament remade.

Mauve saw her smile and returned it with a faint one. She handed Ruby some accelerant attachments and the crimson cloaked woman accepted them gratefully.

"Why did you stay here, anyway?" Ruby asked. "You don't seem to have a lot of attachments. You're human and the slums isn't much of a place to live in."

"I may not look very social but I have friends, you know!" Mauve said, offended. "I can't leave them just like that. Besides, it's home."

"I guess."

"Why are YOU here?" Mauve turned the question back on her. "As far as I know, you're a former Huntress and recluse way up north. What made you come to the Sanctuary?"

"A couple of fr-acquaintances." Ruby murmured. "They've been uh.. captured. By Wyvern."

"Humans?"

Ruby shook her head.

"Faunus."

"Who are they?"

"Travis and Malcolm."

Mauve's eyes bulged.

"Travis?! As in Overseer Ronald's sibling? The second of the Wulf brothers?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"Damn. I would've thought Roy sent him a warning when that winged bastard took over."

"They were caught by surprise."

"How'd you get away?" Mauve asked suspiciously.

"I was sleeping on top of a pine tree."

".. Forget I asked. Let me see." Mauve turned on her scroll and opened a network page. Her eyes narrowed as she mouthed the words she read.

"What is it?" Ruby asked.

"Bad news." Mauve said, handing Ruby the scroll. "Public Execution of Travis Wulf tomorrow night. All inner city citizens are obligated to come and witness the end of a major threat to faunus freedom everywhere. What a load of shit."

Ruby tensed.

"I'm going." she said, taking out Crescent Rose, walking towards the door.

"Wait! Don't be stupid!" Mauve hissed, grabbing hold of her arm.

"He's my friend! I have to help!" Ruby said, anger burning in her silver eyes.

"Then let me help you help him!"

Ruby stopped struggling.

"I can't ask you to do that."

"You don't have too, idiot. I'm volunteering myself for the job."

"But it's going to be dangerous

"You saved my life, Ruby. I have a debt to pay. Or are you telling me I'm incapable of taking down some half-assed prison guards?" Mauve raised her eyebrows, daring the stubborn woman to continue. She placed her hand on the hilt of Nivalis for good measure.

"No, that's not it.. I'm just.. I'm.." Ruby stammered.

Ruby let out an exasperated shout and relented, sitting on the ground, defeated.

"Believe me, we _will_ save him." Mauve promised, placing a hand on the Huntress's shoulder. "It's just that it's easier with the help of a few friends."

"What friends-"

The door exploded into shards as a hulking bear faunus barged into the room, armed with a small battering ram attached to his meaty arm. His eyes narrowed at the two women in the house; one wielding a giant scythe and the other with a hand on a rapier.

"THEY'RE HERE!"

* * *

><p>Apparently, the battering ram attached to the Sentinel's arm were equipped with.. unique modifications. Ruby was delighted, of course, but her companion was less than amused.<p>

"This is bad!" Mauve said, dodging an incendiary round. The bear faunus fired two more, demolishing the remains of her humble abode, before reloading the arm cannons and resuming his barrage. His fellow Sentinels stood behind him, brandishing their respective weapons, waiting for a chance to strike at their prey.

Apparently, things were different in Ruby's head. She sliced a round in mid-air and fired a scopeless shot at the gathering Sentinels, killing one with a headshot. The rest of them growled in anger and charged into the fray, ready to avenge their fallen comrade. Waves of gunfire and explosives went her way, but they were nothing to her lightning fast semblance. She evaded every round, going so far as to hit one with the blunt side of her scythe, sending the burning casing into one of the Sentinel's eyes. She whooped as the lion faunus dropped his weapon and clutched at his melting face.

"This is awesome!" Ruby shouted gleefully, the murderous passion glowing in her silver eyes. She fired an accelerant round to boost her way into the Sentinels' ranks and twirled Crescent Rose like the flower it was named after - beautiful and elegant, yet deadly and thorned. Three faunus fell dead in the wake of her assault; the rest were astonished at the masterful display of the scythe and unwittingly backed away from the woman.

"Disgraceful." a new voice appeared.

A tall deer faunus appeared from their midst, brandishing twin javelins. His weapons were tipped with serrated blades and ends with a hook - made for ripping apart muscle and bone.

"Malcolm?" Ruby said, tilting her head in confusion.

"I see you have mistaken me for my weaker sibling." the faunus said. "You are an admirable warrior. What is your name?"

"Ruby. And yours?"

The deer faunus smiled maliciously, raising his javelins in a battle stance.

"Remember the name Vaughn on your way to hell, girl!"

"They say there can't be beauty in the world if there's no ugliness!" Ruby shouted back. She did an impromptu bow towards the deer faunus's direction. "So I thank you for your sacrifice!"

"Scum!" Vaughn roared.

They swung their weapons and clashed in a spark of gunfire and steel.

In the mean time, Mauve held her own against the quartet of Sentinels in her way. They were exceptionally skilled - she recognized them from her days clearing the city's tunnels of Grimm in the Sanctuary's early years.

"Good to see you again, Mauve." a horse faunus smiled. "I see you've grown, in more ways than one."

He licked his mouth at the sight of the younger girl, brandishing a pair of tonfa guns. His companions murmured in agreement.

"As disgusting as ever, Fenzer." Mauve retorted. "Do you really think you can beat me in a fair fight?"

"I'm hurt, deary. I thought we had something." Fenzer faked a heartache. "Besides, who said it was going to be a fair one?"

Too late, Mauve realized a fifth opponent was sneaking up behind her. Whirling around to meet the hidden opposition, she stared into cold barrel of a heavy assault rifle.

The rat faunus holding the weapon smiled.

And fired.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:**

**Oh, cliffhangers. Aren't they wonderful?**

**Sweet! Three thousand views! Domo arigato! [Mr. Roboto]**

**Review on! What do you think of the Sentinels? The faunus hierarchy? The upcoming execution? The action? Hair tinglingly good? Okay? Bad? Eye-rippingly horrible? Tell me about it, people!**

**Have a great day!**

**-Deathwhisperer.**


End file.
